NTFS-3G for Mac

4.0 stars

"Works Some of the Time! But it's Free..."

February 11, 2012  |   By stardust91911

Version: NTFS-3G 2010.5.22

Pros

It's free!
Does work for most tasks and some of the time...

Cons

Frequently does not copy all files and reports that one or more files (that are being copied) CANNOT be found.

Slow! This takes forever to accumulate the pool of files you will be coping.

As others have reported,a "delete" is permanent and instant, deleted files DO NOT go to the Recycle Can.

Caused my target drive to go into a recurring mode where I heard clicking. Possibly could have damaged the drive/hard disk had I not switched the power off to the external drive.

If you are transferring a lot of folders and files, this program will not work. You must break down the task into smaller chunks and then it will work fairly well with limitations (see below)

Summary

I downloaded this free version of the program and used it on a 2006 Mac Pro (2GHZ Intel Core Duo, 2GB 667 MHZ DDR2 SDRAM) with the 10.5.8 OS, 500GB hard drive. My target disk was a 320GB Maxtor external drive formatted with NTFS and linked to the Mac with a standard USB 2.0 cable.

My task (and the reason I need a program like this) was to copy approximately 80GB of scanned files from the Mac onto a Windows Vista64 desktop computer. Some of the files were larger than t4GB Windows FAT32 limitation. I tediously copied all my files from the Mac onto the Maxtor External. Then, I attempted to transfer all the files in one batch from the Maxtor to the Windows desktop. Nothing! The files would not transfer and there was no message of any kind on the screen. I speculated that it was overloaded and proceeded to go back and transfer one major folder at a time. Bingo! It was working. But, wait! The program stop and showed a window with a message that the operation could not be completed because one or more files could not be found! I clicked OK and the program proceeded to continue coping other files. This did two things: (1) It did not perform the task I wanted! (2) It went on and continued copying, which now cornered me into the tedious task of having to go back and see (manually, file/folder by file/folder) what files it FAILED TO COPY!

But, this isn't the only problem! It also reported for some files that it could not copy some files because the file name was either too long or the file name was illegal! I finally figured out that the files were too long and I tried in vain to truncate them down without success. The files on the external drive that had been copied from the Mac could not be changed because they were "read-only"! I guess (I didn't try) one would have to go back to the Mac and change the file name there, but that means that you would have to change a file name that you wanted but was outside the parameters of the Window's OS's format!!!

I have learned through the years that ANY Windows machine is what I call a "life waster" I can't tell you how many days (hours upon hours) of my life Windows has wasted! Which is why I made it a point some three years ago to go almost exclusively Mac! Why "almost"? Well, I would go 100$ exclusively Mac if I could. As all of us know, not all products/software are offered in Mac version--What a shame!!!

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2.0 stars

"Adequate Product - Poor distribution"

September 19, 2011  |   By greg171

Version: NTFS-3G 2010.5.22

Pros

It works (mostly)

Cons

VERY slow. Copying 1TB HFS+ to NTFS took 3X longer than HFS+ to HFS+, using dual eSATA Expresscard adapter directly to 2TB drives in both cases..

File delete is final - not moved to Trash or Recycle Bin.

No current .dmg distribution available

Summary

The most recent .dmg I have found (10-2010, on another download site) is 5 months newer than this release (5-2010), and 6 months behind the current stable release (4-2011). This review is based on 10-2010.

In order to get the newest release use MacPorts to install. Even then, it was only updated recently, 4 months late. Downloading the source from the project and doing the build yourself is the only way to stay current, if you have the skills.

It is sad that the developers don't feel the need to share with the less-skilled public the latest stable release in a .dmg installer. It is probably relevant that this is the base code for the (commercial) Tuxera NTFS, which of course is conveniently available on a timely basis at a price (and with support for higher speeds using caches).

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5.0 stars

"So much better than FAT-32"

May 23, 2011  |   By cindycated

Version: NTFS-3G 2010.5.22

Pros

WORKS!!!
No more FAT-32 file size limits.
Nothing to know - just install it and go!

Cons

No cons - you need this.

Summary

If you transfer large files (like video, +/- 7gb) between mac & pc and want your NTFS-formatted external drive to be fully functional on your mac (instead of read-only), you need this. Or you can pay $50 for the other app that lets you do the same thing this one does for free. No more partitioning and segmenting with FAT-32 needed. Just format your drive on your PC with the recommended NTFS filesystem, and you're good to go.

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5.0 stars

"One of the tool You really need! And free!"

October 13, 2010  |   By Kaj Larsson

Version: NTFS-3G 2010.5.22

Pros

One of the tool You really need! And free!

Cons

One of the tool You really need! And free!

Summary

One of the tool You really need! And free!

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