- Hi, first thanks for the replies to the other thread. Right, ok here goes. I have a WD Passport external hard drive, formatted in NTFS which i used with a Windows laptop before switching to a mac, I installed the Paragon NTFS driver to enable read / write to and from the drive.
- Although NTFS isn’t natively supported by Mavericks, the Paragon NTFS driver fills this gap nicely. So I got a very large TB Western Digital My Book external that has encryption (I want my data to be encrypted, not matter what the format) and I'm putting a ton of data on it. But of course I need to back this up.
May 05, 2009 Hi, first thanks for the replies to the other thread. Right, ok here goes. I have a WD Passport external hard drive, formatted in NTFS which i used with a Windows laptop before switching to a mac, I installed the Paragon NTFS driver to enable read / write to and from the drive. The passport.
Summary: This guide introduces three common scenarios in which you might find your WD My Passport external hard drive read-only on Mac. If the WD My Passport read-only on Mac problem is caused by the NTFS file system, installing iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to edit, rename, delete the saved files and transfer files to the read-only WD My passport hard drive.
Western Digital is one of the most popular hard drive manufacturers. Its product line covers WD My Passport, WD My Passport Ultra, WD My Book, WD Elements, WD My Passport for Mac and more. Among those external hard drive categories, WD My Passport external hard drives are the most widely used ones. However, many users complain their WD My Passport is read-only on Mac like the user below in WD community.
'I have a WD My Passport 320GB external hard drive that I am trying to hook up to my iMac for the first time. I'm running macOS 10.13. I'm extremely frustrated because this drive is in a read-only mode, and I can't figure out how to change it! Any suggestion to fix this?'
Please continue reading and look for solutions for solving read-only WD My Passport on Mac problem.
Why is the WD My Passport read-only?
Sometimes, the WD external hard drive is read-only on Mac when you just got a brand new WD external hard drive. In other times, it suddenly became read-only after you have been using it for a while. The most common reasons for a read-only WD external hard drive, like WD My Passport, are listed below:
- 1. Your WD My Passport hard drive is NTFS-formatted
- 2. You have read-only permission to access WD My Passport hard drive
- 3. Your WD My Passport hard drive is corrupted
If you are not sure which reason has caused your WD My Passport external hard drive read-only on Mac, check the scenarios one by one. If you know the reason already, you can jump to the scenario that best describes your situation.
Scenario 1: Your WD My Passport hard drive is NTFS-formatted
For WD My Passport Ultra and WD Elements, check if the hard drive is formatted with NTFS file system. By default, macOS can mount a Windows NTFS volume or drive in read-only mode. You can view the files saved on the NTFS-formatted partition or drive but can't make any changes to them. In addition, the WD My Passport hard drive won't let you add any files to it. To check if your WD My Passport is NTFS formatted, follow the steps:
- 1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utilities.
- 2. Click the WD My Passport (you may have changed its name) at the left sidebar. The file system information will be displayed on the right.
Note: You can also right-click the disk icon at the desktop and choose 'Get Info' to check the file system information.
After having confirmed that the WD My Passport is formatted with NTFS, many people will choose to convert NTFS to APFS (for macOS Catalina, Mojave and High Sierra) or reformat the WD My Passport hard drive to make the WD external hard drive compatible with Mac. But as you know, directly formatting WD Elements or My Passport on Mac causes data loss.
In fact, installing an NTFS for Mac driver is a much easier way.
Solution: Install an NTFS for Mac driver to make WD My Passport writable
The NTFS drivers for macOS - iBoysoft NTFS for Mac can help you read and write to NTFS-formatted WD My Passport drives on Mac.
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac: NTFS for Mac driver and more
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is an NTFS disk management tool. It can manage NTFS drives with NTFS write support. It can easily and effectively mount NTFS drive on Mac automatically in read-write mode. It works with macOS 11/10.15/10.14/10.13.
Three simple steps to read and write to NTFS-formatted WD My Passport drive easily.
- 1. Download, install, and launch iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your Mac. Then, restart your Mac.
- 2. Connect the NTFS-formatted WD My Passport drive to Mac.
- 3. Write to NTFS-formatted WD My Passport drive after the drive has been mounted successfully.
Besides an NTFS mounter, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac can also open, unmount, eject, erase and repair NTFS volumes. It can list all attached external disks including USB flash drives, SD cards, memory sticks, external hard drives and so on. You can open them with one click. Moreover, you can reformat them to NTFS with iBoysoft NTFS for Mac if you need.
Scenario 2: You have read-only permission to access the WD My Passport hard drive
If your WD My Passport external hard drive is not formatted with NTFS but you have no write permission to it, it is probably because you have read-only permission to access the WD My Passport. Since your WD external hard drive is write-protected, all your write access is denied.
To know your permission to the WD My Passport, follow the steps below:
- 1. Right-click the WD My Passport disk icon at the desktop and choose 'Get Info'.
- 2. Check the information at the bottom under the Sharing & Permissions tab.
If you can see the message 'You can only read', then you will understand why you can't write to your WD My Passport drive.
Solution: Change read-only permission on the WD My Passport drive
Follow the instruction below to change permission on Mac so that you can access the WD My Passport again:
- 1. Click on the lock icon at the right corner in the Get Info window.
- 2. Enter password if asked.
- 3. Check the 'Ignore ownership on this volume'.
- 4. Click on the gear button and choose 'Apply to enclosed items…'.
- 5. Click 'OK' when you are asked to confirm the operation.
- 6. Click the 'Read Only' in Privilege column and select 'Read & Write'.
By now, you have regained the read and write access to the WD My Passport.
Scenario 3: Your WD My Passport hard drive is corrupted
If you are sure that the read-only WD My Passport is not caused by NTFS file system nor read-only permission, another possible cause might be the disk corruption. When an external drive is corrupted, people suddenly have trouble reading or/and writing to the disk. Then you will have to fix the corrupted WD My Passport external hard drive to make it writable again. We will introduce two solutions here:
- Fix the read-only WD My Passport in Disk Utility on Mac
- Reformat the WD My Passport on Mac
Solution 1: Fix the read-only WD My Passport in Disk Utility on Mac
This solution might help you solve the read-only external hard drive problem without formatting. You will utilize a built-in tool on Mac called Disk Utility. It is used to manage internal and external disks on Mac. There is a function called First Aid in Disk Utility that can be used to check for and repair errors on the selected disk or volume.
Here is how to fix the read-only WD My Passport in Disk Utility:
- 1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
- 2. Select the WD My Passport drive at the left sidebar.
- 3. Click on First Aid and click on 'Run' to repair the WD My Passport drive.
- 4. Click 'Done' after the operation completes.
If First Aid fails to repair the WD external hard drive, your disk might be seriously corrupted. You will have to reformat the WD My passport to make it not read-only.
Solution 2: Reformat the WD My Passport for Mac
Reformatting the corrupted WD My Passport drive is the ultimate solution for fixing the read only file system on Mac. Follow the steps below to know how to make the WD My Passport compatible with Mac and PC.
- 1. Make sure you have a copy of your important files on WD My Passport hard drive, or recover lost data from the external hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
- 2. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
- 3. Click on the WD My Passport drive at the left sidebar.
- 4. Check Click 'Erase' on the top of the Disk Utility window.
- 5. Input a name.
- 6. Choose FAT or exFAT as format for convenience because either of them is compatible with both Windows and macOS. Then, how to format the WD My Passport for Mac exclusive use? Simply choose APFS or Mac OS Extend format in Disk Utility, which also works if you want to format WD Elements for Mac.
- 7. Choose 'GUID Partition Map' as Scheme.
- 8. Click on 'Erase' button.
You can reconnect the WD external hard drive to Mac again to see if it is writable now.
Conclusion
The external hard drive read-only on Mac problem doesn't happen to WD external hard drives only. Any external hard drive could be write-protected on Mac. It is quite common to see other notable external hard drive brand get the same complaint like Seagate, Samsung, Toshiba, etc. When you come across the read-only disk problem on Mac, the post is always helpful.
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MacWorld US, Editors’ Choice 2018
www.macworld.comWhether you’re a hardcore Boot Camp user or just need to occasionally write to Windows-formatted media, this update keeps things working at peak performance…
MacWorld US, Editors’ Choice 2018
www.macworld.comRunning a Mac and having NTFS formatted external disks, you definitely need NTFS for Mac. It is well priced <…> and enables read and write access to your NTFS drives no matter what size. The speed at which you can read and write the data on these drives is the best of any competitor if there really is one. Anyone who needs to use Mac and Windows computers needs this app for easy data transfer. The interface is best of any application found, and the application itself offers additional drive tools for taking full control. The latest version also supports Mojave and APFS format to complete a perfect application. It is without real competition and deserves a full 5-star award. This utility makes your external storage usable on any computer system Windows or Mac. So your data remains interchangeable and is fully adapted for macOS MOJAVE.
MacSoftReview
www.macsoftreview.com
September 2018Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is a great upgrade to an exceptional cross-platform utility that’s easily worth the money, especially if you own the previous version 14, in which case this one’s free.
The user interface is tastefully designed, with buttons for mounting, unmounting, verifying, or erasing the selected volume. Dual-boot users also have the option to reboot into a compatible mounted Mac or Windows startup volume. There’s even a lovely color-coded space indicator like the one introduced with Mac OS X El Capitan, displaying content by Audio, Video, Apps, Images, and Other categories.MacWorld, USA, August 2017,
macworld.comMicrosoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software, the excellent third-party file system driver that enables writing to Windows-formatted volumes at native speeds.
MacWorld, USA, June 2017,
macworld.comMicrosoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is the best such software solution: reliable, fast, and now affordable as well…
Fast, seamless, and easy to use, Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is required for those who need to write to Windows volumes. And now it’s more affordable than ever.MacWorld, USA 2016,
macworld.comA very specialized product that does its job in a very unobtrusive way. You just install it and it works. When you plug an NTFS disk into your Mac, it just mounts on the desktop like any other disk, and when you copy a file to it, it just works, no muss, no fuss. This utility is also invaluable if you find yourself in a situation where you need to format a disk as NTFS, and it performs this task with an equal lack of drama
Apple Press, DVMUG
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is an essential installation for anyone working with Macs and PCs, as it helps to break down the barriers that exist between the two operating systems
Mac World UK,
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How-to-Geek
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software does exactly what we expect from it, by offering a seamless NTFS disk management. It’s good performances even allow working directly on the Windows partition, including for heavy applications such as video or photo processing.
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It is pretty fast with NTFS transfers (slightly slower than OSX extended partitions obviously) and I’ve never had any problems mid-transfer or anything. For me, it’s always done what it said on the box, and now with V14 it’s got El Capitan compatibility, so no complaints here. If you’re looking for a way to have plug-and-play NTFS drives on your mac, there really isn’t a better alternative to Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software. Highly recommended for all Mac users!
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Blazing Fast
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is up to six times faster than any of its closest commercial competitors!
Fully Compatible
Supports macOS Big Sur
and older macOS
See Specifications
Powerful Features
Safe data transfer, hassle-free work, easy to use, seamless user experience
Apple Silicon M1 Ready
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is built for the latest Apple ARM technologies and is fully compatible with M1-based Mac devices
How it Works
Simple as 1-2-3
Install
Download and install Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software onto your Mac.
Done!
Paragon Ntfs For Mac Download
Microsoft NTFS volumes connected to your Mac are available in the Finder.
All operations just a click away!
If you need more than just a blazing fast and reliable Microsoft NTFS driver, our lightweight menubar and full-featured Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software apps are always at your service.
Access all of your Microsoft NTFS drives and perform the most common volume operations like mount, unmount and verify.
Quickly restart your Mac in Windows from the menubar (assuming it’s installed on your mounted Microsoft NTFS drive).
Seamless User Experience
If you’ve ever used Apple’s Disk Utility, you already know how to use Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software. If you haven’t, it will only take a few moments to get acquainted.
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software takes the best of Apple’s Disk Utility and moves it to the next level, augmenting Microsoft NTFS volume operations and advanced mount options.
Mounting is entirely under your control with advanced options
Mount in Read-Only: select this option if you need to access sensitive data without modifying any files.
Do not mount automatically: select this option if you want to manually control access to a volume.
Outstanding performance at blazing fast speed
is the fastest file system driver on the market:
6x times faster*
*Tested on 2016 MacBook Pro with SSD drive, view benchmarks here.
Fresh review: check out the video review by European Motion Picture Association.
Latest award: 5-star review of the Mojave-ready edition.
Features
Features | Benefits |
|---|---|
Supported Technologies |
|
Supported Operating Systems |
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Supported File Systems | All Microsoft NTFS versions are supported (from Windows NT 3.1 to Windows 10). |
Write Access | When a volume is mounted in write mode, you can do everything with the files and folders it contains: read, edit, delete, rename, create new. |
Automount | Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software mounts supported volumes automatically at startup, so you don’t need to worry each time you restart the operating system or power your computer on. However, this feature can be disabled at any time in the program interface. |
Volume Management | Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software easily formats, checks integrity and repairs corrupted volumes. |
Internationalization | Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software supports all alphabets supported by your operating systems, including those that use non-Roman and non-Latin characters, so you will never face the problem of not getting access to file names on volumes mounted in non-native OS. |
Compatible with Apple Boot Camp | Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is fully compatible with Apple Boot Camp software and provides direct read and write access to Mac partitions from Windows installed on Boot Camp. |
Compatible with 3rd party software | Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is compatible with popular virtualization and encryption applications including VMware Fusion and Workstation, Parallels Desktop, TrueCrypt and its forks. |
Paragon Technology Center
Want to learn more about the technology behind Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software? Check out the Paragon Technology Portal!
Frequently Asked Questions
| Could I try your product for free before buying? | |
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| I’m a user of a Seagate or Western Digital device with pre-installed NTFS for Mac. How can I get my update? | |
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| Does it work with the latest Apple Silicon M1 based Macs? | |
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| Does it work with macOS 11 Big Sur? | |
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| How can I get the update if I have bought the previous version of Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software? | |
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| What operations do you mean saying “Full read/write access”? | |
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| What data transfer rate I will get using Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software? | |
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| What versions and features of the Microsoft NTFS file system are supported? | |
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| Is BootCamp supported? | |
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| What should I do if I have OS X 10.9 but Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software doesn’t support OS older than 10.10? | |
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| Can I re-activate my license on another Mac? | |
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| How many times can I re-activate my license? | |
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| It doesn’t work! My Microsoft NTFS drive is not recognized by macOS, even after installing Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software. | |
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| I frequently work with NTFS, HFS+, APFS-formatted partitions on my Mac and Windows PC. Can I get a discount, if I buy all drivers at once? | |
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ensure multi-platform access: activate required file system drivers based on your it park regardless of os.
Paragon Ntfs For Mac Free Download
Resources
Current Version | Download Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software |
Product Documentation | Download Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software One Pager |
Need help? | Contact Support or file a support ticket |
Latest review | European Motion Picture Association (EURMPA) reviews Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software. Watch the videos! |
NTFS for Mac build for Apple Silicon
Apple has announced a two-year transition to ARM-based processors known as “Apple Silicon.” Since the new Apple Silicon-based Mac computers are just around the corner, we proactively took on this project. We are delighted to offer Mac users our new NTFS for Mac build for Apple Silicon, which is available for download below.
Paragon Ntfs Driver For Mac
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