How to Use NTFS Drive on macOS Catalina Without Formatting?

Quick Navigation:

• NTFS and macOS Catalina
• Why Not Format the NTFS Drive?
• Best NTFS Driver for macOS Catalina
• How to Use NTFS drive on macOS Catalina Without Formatting?
• Conclusion
• FAQs About Using NTFS Drive on macOS Catalina

Do you have trouble writing data to your NTFS drive on macOS Catalina? This limitation may be annoying if you switch between Windows and Mac often. However, you don't have to format your drive and lose important files to get write access, which is good news.

There are good ways to make full NTFS functionality work on your Mac, whether you're a tech fanatic or just looking for a useful answer. NTFS for Mac makes everything become easy. You can download and install a NTFS driver on your macOS Catalina machine and run it to enable writable for NTFS drives. It means you can use your NTFS drive on macOS Catalina without formatting the drive.

NTFS and macOS Catalina

Like the versions before it, macOS Catalina works with many file systems, including APFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT. NTFS, however, only lets you read files on Mac OS. This means you can look at files on an NTFS drive but not change, delete, or create new ones. The main reason for this limitation is that NTFS is a Microsoft-only file system, and macOS only partially supports it.

This limitation can annoy people who often switch between Windows and macOS or have external files formatted in NTFS. You can reformat the drive to a file system that works with macOS, but you will lose data and have less success using it with Windows computers. Instead, there are tools and ways to get full access to your NTFS drive without having to format it.

Why Not Format the NTFS Drive?

Reformatting an NTFS drive to a file system that works with macOS, like ExFAT or APFS, can fix compatibility problems, but it has big problems:

• Data Loss: When you reformat a drive, all of its data is erased, so you'll need to make a copy of your files first. This process could take a while, and more room may be needed to store things.
• Less compatibility: If you change the drive to a file system that only works on macOS, like APFS or HFS+, it might not be able to be used on Windows computers without extra software. It limits the drive's flexibility, especially if you often move between macOS and Windows.

Due to these problems, reformatting might not be the best choice for people who need to be able to view files from different operating systems without losing any data. Looking into other options can save you time and keep your cross-platform support.

If you have lost data due to reformatting your NTFS drive on Mac, you can use a Mac data recovery app to scan the formatted drive and get all lost data back.

Best NTFS Driver for macOS Catalina

If you want to use NTFS drive on macOS Catalina without formatting the drive, you can download and install a NTFS driver on your Mac.

DoYourData NTFS for Mac is the best NTFS driver for Mac because it is powerful, 100% safe and easy-to-use. With this tool, you can easily add NTFS read-write support on macOS Catalina so that you can write data to any NTFS drive on your Mac.

macOS Catalina users can easily download and install DoYourData NTFS for Mac on their Macs. It also can help you repair a damaged drive on Mac, format a drive to NTFS on Mac, etc.

How to Use NTFS drive on macOS Catalina Without Formatting?

Step 1. Download and install DoYourData NTFS for Mac on macOS Catalina, then run it from Launchpad.

Step 2. Connect the NTFS drive to your Mac. DoYourData NTFS for Mac recognizes automatically.

Step 3. Find and select the NTFS drive, click on Enable Writable button.

Then you can try to move files from your Mac to the NTFS drive and see if you can write data to the drive.

More Tips:

• If the NTFS drive is not mounted, click on Mount button.
• You can click on First Aid button to repair the damaged NTFS drive.

Conclusion:

With the right steps, you can use an NTFS drive on macOS Catalina without formatting it. DoYourData NTFS for Mac is a reliable NTFS driver for macOS Catalina. If you have it installed on your Mac, you can run it to enable writable for NTFS drives. Then you can move files from your Mac to the NTFS drive, delete/create/move/modify/cut files on the NTFS drive without any limitation.

If you don't want to use NTFS for Mac tool on your Mac, you have to reformat the drive to APFS, Mac OS Extended or ExFAT. Before reformatting the drive, make a backup of your important files.

FAQs About Using NTFS Drive on macOS Catalina

1. I can't move files from my Mac to an external hard drive, why?

If the external hard drive has been pre-formatted to NTFS file system, it would be read-only on macOS Catalina. There are two solutions to fix this issue:

• Open Disk Utility, select the external hard drive, click Erase. Then select APFS, Mac OS Extended, ExFAT, click Erase again to format the external hard drive to Mac-compatible file system.
• Download and install the best NTFS driver - DoYourData NTFS for Mac, run it to enable writable for the NTFS drive.

2. How to use a NTFS external hard drive on macOS Catalina without formatting?

NTFS for Mac can quickly add NTFS read-write support on Mac:

• Download and install DoYourData NTFS for Mac on macOS Catalina.
• Open DoYourData NTFS for Mac, select the NTFS drive.
• Click on Enable Writable button.
• Then you can read-write NTFS drive on macOS Catalina without any limitation.

3. What is the best NTFS driver for macOS Catalina?

Here is the list of top 5 macOS Catalina NTFS for Mac tool:

• DoYourData NTFS for Mac
• NTFS-3G
• Donemax NTFS for Mac
• Paragon NTFS for Mac
• Mac Fuse

4. How to format an external hard drive for macOS Catalina?

You can follow the steps below to format a NTFS external hard drive for macOS Catalina:

• Go to Launchpad > Other > Disk Utility, open Disk Utility.
• Select the external hard drive, click Erase.
• Select APFS, Mac OS Extended or ExFAT as the file system.
• Click Erase again.

You also can use DoYourData NTFS for Mac to help you format an external hard drive on macOS Catalina. It even can format an external hard drive to NTFS on macOS Catalina.

• Download and install DoYourData NTFS for Mac tool.
• Open DoYourData NTFS for Mac, select the external hard drive.
• Click on Format button.
• Select a file system, click on Continue button to format the external hard drive.