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Is there a way to access (read/write) my external HDD with NTFS file system from my iMac (10.6.5) for free ?
I know about paid solution but is there any free solution available ? (ntfs-3g seems to be paid already)

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wha? ntfs-3g is included in linux distros all over the place... – aking1012 Dec 15 '10 at 14:39
ntfs-3g is still free... tuxera.com/community/ntfs-3g-download – g19fanatic Dec 15 '10 at 16:59
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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

MacFuse will cover this for you - works a treat for me

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Finally got it working with this apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ntfs3g.html . Seems they have 2 licenses , free and commercial – chubbyk Dec 15 '10 at 14:59
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The latest NTFS-3g installers for OS X also bundle in MacFUSE, so you don't have to worry about downloading it separately. – afrazier Dec 15 '10 at 15:26
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up vote 1 down vote

NTFS-3G has both a paid and a free (as in speech as well as in beer) version. The paid version claims to incorporate all sorts of stability improvements over the free version, but I've been using the free one for some time with no problems. Although it uses FUSE technology, everything you need is in the package - you don't need to download anything else. The latest free version at time of writing is here - sometimes it's not so easy to find; after all, they'd love you to buy the paid version.

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I thought Tuxera NTFS claimed performance improvements over the free NTFS-3G, not stability. Though Tuxera does get update more frequently, so it would see bugfixes first. – afrazier Dec 15 '10 at 21:57
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It's stability of the performance. NTFS-3G offers an optional caching layer, which improves performance, especially on USB drives, but means there is a delay between when you save the file and it actually being written to disk, so if you unplug the disk without unmounting it first, there's a major risk of data loss. Tuxera NTFS provides a caching layer that is not only claimed to be faster than that of NTFS-3G, but also reduces the risk of data loss in the event of unexpected device removal (don't ask me how). – Scott Dec 15 '10 at 22:04
That said, you have a point - stability perhaps isn't quite the right word. Robustness maybe? – Scott Dec 15 '10 at 22:09
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up vote 0 down vote

If they can get it to compile on BSD, you should be able to coax it into compiling on mac osx: http://www.freshports.org/sysutils/fusefs-ntfs

pretty sure it's free or can be compiled from source.

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No need to recompile BSD source, its already been ported to Mac - see my answer for the link – Rob Cowell Dec 15 '10 at 14:58
good deal. I just don't have a mac, so I couldn't be sure. I really couldn't imagine it not being there. – aking1012 Dec 15 '10 at 15:02
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