Can a Mac read an NTFS drive?
Short answer
Yes for reading, no for writing. A Mac opens an NTFS drive and copies files from it with no extra software, but macOS does not add, edit, or delete files on the drive. If a drive needs to be written from both a Mac and a Windows PC, copy everything off it first, then reformat it as exFAT, because reformatting erases the drive.
Yes for reading, no for writing. NTFS is the file system Windows uses, and a Mac can open an NTFS drive, browse it, and copy files from it to the Mac with no extra software. What macOS does not do is write: files cannot be added, edited, moved, or deleted on the drive while it is plugged into the Mac. That is usually fine, because most people plug a Windows drive into a Mac to take files off it. If you need one drive that both a Mac and a Windows PC can save files to, the safe fix is to copy everything off the drive and reformat it as exFAT, in that order, because reformatting erases the drive.[1][2]
Why the Mac reads it but will not write to it
NTFS, the New Technology File System, is Microsoft's own format and the default for modern Windows, built with security descriptors, encryption, disk quotas, and rich metadata. macOS includes the ability to read it, but not to change it. The clearest published statement of the behavior comes from Paragon Software, a company that sells an NTFS driver for the Mac, whose product page describes macOS support for Windows volumes as limited: 'you can only read data, but can't write or delete anything'. One more thing can block even the reading: BitLocker. Microsoft states that NTFS works with BitLocker Drive Encryption and that it protects data even if a drive is removed and installed in another system, and a Mac has no built-in way to unlock a BitLocker drive, so an encrypted NTFS drive may not open on the Mac at all.[1][2]
What works fine: getting files off a Windows drive
Read-only sounds like a defect, but for the most common job it is exactly what you want. Plugging a Windows drive into a Mac and dragging its files onto the Mac needs no settings changed and nothing installed. The limit only bites in the other direction: you cannot copy files to the drive, rename or delete what is on it, or use it to store backups from the Mac.[2]
The fix when a Mac and a PC both need to write
If the drive has to take saved files from both systems, reformat it as exFAT. Apple's Disk Utility guide lists ExFAT, alongside MS-DOS (FAT), as the file systems compatible with Windows, and recommends ExFAT for Windows volumes over 32 GB. The order is the whole trick: copy everything you want to keep off the drive first, then erase it and choose ExFAT as the new format. After that, both the Mac and the Windows PC can read the drive and write to it.[3]
Reformatting erases the drive. Apple's Disk Utility guide states that erasing a storage device deletes everything on it, and tells users to copy any files they want to save to another storage device before erasing. If the files on this NTFS drive are not copied somewhere else yet, do not erase it. If the drive has been behaving oddly, get your files off before any format: a format is not a repair, and it destroys the data you may be trying to rescue.[4]
Third-party drivers that add write support
Paid software exists that adds NTFS writing to macOS, and Paragon's page is one example, claiming 'Full read-write access granted!' so users can 'write, edit, copy, move and delete files on Microsoft NTFS volumes from your Mac'. Those claims come from the companies selling the tools, not from Apple, and this page does not recommend one. For a shared drive, the exFAT reformat needs no extra software, which is why it comes first here.[2]
Related reading
Why an external drive shows up read-only
NTFS vs exFAT for external drives
The drive does not appear on the Mac at all
A USB drive that refuses writes
Not sure which problem you have? Use guided help
Sources
Facts on this page are cited to the publishers’ own documentation.
- [1] Microsoft — NTFS overview. captured 2026-09-12.
- [2] Paragon Software — Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software. captured 2026-09-13.
- [3] Apple — File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac. captured 2026-09-13.
- [4] Apple — Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac. captured 2026-09-12.