Read Windows NTFS Drives Natively in macOS 13

macOS 13 Ventura provides native, out-of-the-box support for reading Windows NTFS-formatted drives without requiring any third-party software. However, this native functionality is strictly limited to read-only access. While you can open, view, and copy files from an NTFS drive onto your Mac, macOS 13 cannot write, edit, delete, or modify any files stored on an NTFS volume natively.

Native NTFS Capabilities in macOS 13

When you connect a Windows NTFS drive to a Mac running macOS 13 Ventura, the operating system mounts the drive automatically. You can immediately perform the following tasks without installing extra drivers:

  • Browse files and folders: Navigate the entire file directory of the NTFS storage device using Finder.
  • Open and view files: Launch documents, play media files, and view images stored on the drive.
  • Copy data to your Mac: Drag and drop files from the external NTFS drive onto your Mac’s internal storage or any other write-supported external drive.

Limitations: The Lack of Native Write Support

macOS 13 does not natively support writing to NTFS file systems. If you attempt to drag a file onto the drive, edit an existing file, or create a new folder, macOS will block the action. In previous macOS versions, hidden and unstable experimental write features could be enabled via the Terminal, but Apple completely removed this underlying NTFS write capability in macOS 13 Ventura.

How to Get Full Read and Write Access

If you require the ability to save files to an NTFS drive on macOS 13, you have two primary options:

  1. Install Third-Party NTFS Drivers: Software solutions such as Paragon NTFS for Mac or Tuxera NTFS install low-level file system drivers that grant complete read and write access to NTFS drives on macOS 13 without requiring you to reformat the disk.
  2. Reformat the Drive to exFAT: If the drive does not strictly need to remain in the NTFS format, you can back up the data and use Disk Utility to format the drive as exFAT. The exFAT format is natively supported with full read and write capabilities on both modern Windows and macOS systems.