NTFS dilemma

[nadroj915]

I've upgraded my MBP. For whatever reason I now have "read only" access to one of my external HDDs. It's currently in NTFS format. It's a Seagate drive, and it worked on my previous macbook pro with no problems. However there was free software provided from Seagate at the time of purchase as well, which I suppose included drivers that allowed me to have full access. I've searched the Internet quite extensively now, and am unable to find any software/drivers that will let me have complete access to my HDD now without paying. This kind of sucks! Does anyone know how to help? Ultimately, probably reformatting the drive to ExFat is the best thing to do it, but I have more than 900 GB of stuff I don't want to lose, and would prefer to have access to it to be able to delete / back up what I want first.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

-Which version of OS X did you upgrade from and to?
-Normally, OS X can only red NTFS volumes, no write to them.
-The included Seagate software was probably just formatting software and drives, not anything that would allow you to read/write from OS X.
-Do you use this drive with PCs also?

There are a few paid utilities that allow read/write to NTFS drives in OS X:
-Paragon NTFS
-Tuxera NTFS

However, I would recommend copying the files off your drive to another, reformatting as HFS+ (Journaled) using the GUID partition map, and copying the files back. I wouldn't use ExFat personally. That will be the best going forward, unless you still use the drive with Windows PCs.

C

 

[nadroj915]

Hi, I upgraded from El Capitan to High Sierra. Seagate supplied "NTFS for Mac" which did give me read/write capability. While I probably won't be using my HDD with a Windows PC, I probably will be connecting it to my Smart TV, or my 4K media player. Do you still recommend the HFS (Journaled) format?

 

[nadroj915]

@Cory Cooper - Also I don't see the HFS+ option available. See screenshot.

 

[Cory Cooper]

NTFS for Mac is an older piece of software that would have given you the ability to read/write. I believe that became Paragon NTFS. Is it an app in the Applications folder and is there an update for it?

HFS+ is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

If you are going to connected it to a TV or media player, then it will definitely need to be in a Windows format - FAT/ExFAT/NTFS.

Remember, if you change the format, it will delete all of your data, so make sure you copy or back it up to another drive.

C

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hmmm...found this:

Paragon Driver for macOS (10.10 and above)

C

 

[Quincannon]

I also have a problem with my Seagate Expansion Drive. I bought it in January 2017 and successfully backed up all my files but didn't try and use it again until about two weeks ago and it wouldn't let me add files to it. I could drag files from it with no problem. It is a 4TB drive with 3.25 TB available. I recently upgraded to High Sierra if that has anything to do with it. I upgraded to High Sierra on my MacBook Air too and the drive won't work on that either. In the screenshot below you will notice the format Windows NT File System (NTFS). If that's the problem then how did it change from Mac format to Windows?

Any advice please would be appreciated because this drive wasn't cheap and I don't want to have to buy a new one.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Quincannon:

There isn't any way that the drive can change to NTFS without user interaction. You would have to erase it and change the format/partition type. When you originally set it up, did it come with any software pre-installed that prompted you to format it at first use?

The only way to rectify this situation, is to copy all of the data on it to another drive, reformat it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition map, and then copy the files back to it.

C

 

[Quincannon]

It must have been formatted correctly to begin with because I used it to back up my files, so it's rather odd that it's now in Windows format.
I am in the process of backing everything onto another external drive and will reformat it to Mac OS.

Thanks again.

Peter

 

[Cory Cooper]

Yeah, very strange.

Keep us posted on your progress,

C

 

[Quincannon]

I followed those instructions and it's made it worse. The Mac won't even recognise the drive now.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Sorry to hear you're having additional issues with the drive.

-Is it seen by either Mac?
-Is it seen by Disk Utility?
-You could try the SMC and NVRAM resets.

We'll see if we can rectify this new issue. It should have a 3-5 year warranty, so you should be able to get it replaced by Seagate if we can't, since you bought it just over a year ago.

C

 

[Quincannon]

I got it working again. This is how it looked on Disk Utilities.

I had my other external drive open too and I was able to copy to it from that through disk utilities so now all is fine.

Peter