How do I write to NTFS drives in OS X?

Updated at May 2015, with current solutions.

Free solutions

FUSE for OS X - Successor to MacFUSE

NTFS-3G
Requires a build from source for anything newer than 2010. Last "pre built" version linked from http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/ntfs-3g-for-mac-os-x-2010102.html You can build it from source using homebrew in the other answers.

Paid solutions

Paragon NTFS

Tuxera NTFS

MacFuse is abandonware, and hasn't been updated since 2009.

This answer is for latest compatibility for OS X 10.11 El Capitan, macOS 10.12 Sierra, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.14 Mojave.

It needs an update for Apple Silicon and Monterey and Big Sur and Catalina so proceed with caution

1. Install latest osxfuse (3.x.x) from GitHub. Or install it with Homebrew as follow:

   brew cask install osxfuse
   

2. Install latest NTFS-3G with Homebrew as follow:

   brew install ntfs-3g
   

3. Auto-mount NTFS volumes in read-write mode:

Link NTFS-3G to boot after temporary disabling System Integrity Protection, as follow:

* [reboot by holding <kbd>CMD</kbd>+<kbd>R</kbd> to get in recovery mode]

        csrutil disable

* [reboot normally]

        sudo mount -uw /
        sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.original
        sudo ln -s /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs

* [reboot by holding <kbd>CMD</kbd>+<kbd>R</kbd> to get in recovery mode]

        csrutil enable

* [reboot normally]

You will need to re-link manually (step 3) each year when you upgrade macOS (10.11 → 10.12 → 10.13 → 10.14 → ...)

Additional steps if solution does not work:

• try to install ntfs-3g again

   brew install ntfs-3g
  

• it warns that it installed but not linked, try to link again:

   brew link ntfs-3g
  

• it fails and prints dry-run command which will show files to remove:

   brew link --overwrite --dry-run ntfs-3g
  

• remove these files with sudo ('Would remove:' is for English console)

   brew link --overwrite --dry-run ntfs-3g | grep -vF 'Would remove:' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs sudo rm
  

• try to link again and get permission error on creation /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g. brew prevents running with sudo so prepare directory for README:

   sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g
   sudo chmod a+w /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g
  

• run brew link again... success.

• reboot your Mac and allow system extension to load in System Preferences as error box suggests.

See also the following wiki page: https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/wiki/NTFS-3G

I tested this on Mountain lion and it is free and you don't need to reboot. It uses OS X's native NTFS drivers.

1. Plug-in your device

2. Write in Terminal diskutil list and look for IDENTIFIER where TYPE is Windows_NTFS.

   

   In this case it is disk1s1

3. Then run the following:

   diskutil unmount /dev/disk1s1
   cd /Volumes
   mkdir Elements
   sudo mount -w -t ntfs -o rw,nobrowse /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/Elements
   open /Volumes/Elements