Mac unable to write to a NTFS-formatted (PC) hardisk
Posted by otterman on 14 July 2008
One of my students was unable to format her new (250GB) external disk on Windows XP. So she brought it in for me to try with her PC and eventually I managed, after consulting the Cutie (drive enclosure) manual. I was surprised at how unclear it was in Windows – it required two distinct non-intuitive steps with no prompts after the drive was connected.
We intend to exchange large files with that external hardisk so I need both my Mac and her PC to be able read the file. In order to do this, I need to format it as a FAT32 (MS-DOS) drive. But I was unable to do so on her XP PC. This is because “the format program included in Windows 2000 and higher can only create FAT32 file systems of 32 GB or less.” – Wikipedia.
OS X’s Disk Utility can format external drives
as MS DOS’ FAT32 and partition-free too!
I could have used Mac OS X Leopard to format the disk though but didn’t. Instead I selected the only option in her PC format program – NTFS (New Technology File System), the standard file system of Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista.
However, while Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard (at least) can copy files off an NTFS disk, they are unable to write to one. It dawned on me that this was the explanation for my puzzle with PC using students – the disk they gave me mounted, I could see their files, but a drag and drop copy attempt onto their NTFS disks failed. I usually then try some kind of work around, which is fine for one-off situations.
Well, there is a solution? Laurence, who was on IM with me the whole time and just as puzzled, sent me this link: Paragon Software’s US$40 NTFS for Mac OS X. There is a 10-day trial but it’s inevitable I will be getting this.
Updates
- Solutions include the geeky MacFuse as suggested in this gantico post.
- It gets better – read about the GUI version provided by MacFusion!
- I realise I may have tried this for read/wrie desktop access for FTP disks!
- After reading that entry and The Elder Geek, I’ve decided it’s better to leave my muddy student’s external hardisk formatted as an NTFS volume. Even though it will not be recognized by Windows 95/98/Me, NTFS appears to be more reliable, less susceptible to fragmentation and will allow for better file recovery.
- I’ll not be abandoning FAT32; its what all my thumbdrives are all formatted as.
Must allocate time to try this in the morning.
mis_nomer said
I would use something like Partition Magic to format the external disk into one big FAT32 drive.
Teutoburg said
Yes, it is inevitable. The reason why the Mac cannot write to an NTFS volume is because Microsoft refuses to license the the file system. Macintosh and Linux users are such suckers for punishment.
Anyway, I came across Paragon’s extension a few months earlier when I salvaged data from a researcher’s dead iBook. It worked flawlessly and the researcher’s data was subsequently published a month later.
There’s no meaningful way to abandon FAT32, with flash cards and memory sticks holding the fort for this antiquated format.
Microsoft was to adopted WinFS, built-in with then Windows ‘Longhorn’. WinFS is more intelligent and efficient in its file management compared to NTFS. However that format was ‘put on ice’ in the rush to finish Windows Vista. On a side note, Apple will adopt the ZFS file system on OS 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Download YouTube Video said
Man, I knew it like 8 years ago, or more… =) And Linux users are NOT such suckers for punishment. Linux CAN access NTFS with no plugins.
otterman said
Yeah, Windows NT has ben around for more than eight years. And that’s about how long I went without having to access an NTFS disk! The student in question just got a mac so that problem is over in more ways than one!