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Hi I'm trying to install NTFS-3G on macOS BigSur but every time I run brew install ntfs-3g it reports Error: ntfs-3g has been disabled because it requires FUSE!. Obviously I've already installed macFUSE from osxfuse but brew doesn't seem to recognise it.

How can I solve that?

Matteo
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  • The main thread for NTFS is https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/20889/how-do-i-write-to-ntfs-drives-in-os-x but I super appreciate the homebrew take here. This is not a duplicate, just related. – bmike Nov 05 '21 at 11:59

4 Answers4

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The use of FUSE has been deprecated in homebrew: any formulas that use FUSE as a dependency have been disabled.

Your options are:

  • use a different tap to install the FUSE using package (as mentioned in this issue)
brew tap gromgit/homebrew-fuse
brew install --cask macfuse
brew install ntfs-3g-mac
  • use a different package manager if another one provides ntfs-3g
  • find a pre-compiled version of ntfs-3g along with dependencies
  • compile ntfs-3g and dependencies yourself
  • buy Paragon NTFSno affiliation
Gal Bracha
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Scottmeup
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    Ok. I'm trying compiling by myself. Once cloned directly from tuxera's repo I run these commands: ./autogen.sh ./configure with no errors, but when i run make it returns Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64: "_libintl_setlocale", referenced from: _utils_set_locale in utils.o ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64 clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation) make[2]: *** [ntfsfix] Error 1 make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1 make: *** [all] Error 2 – Matteo Jun 16 '21 at 10:07
  • Any suggestions? – Matteo Jun 16 '21 at 12:48
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    Sure. Skip a pizza and buy Paragon NTFS. https://shop.paragon-software.com/277/?scope=checkout&cart=226074&enablecoupon=false&cfg=paragon2018 – Marc Wilson Jun 16 '21 at 14:36
  • Why should I pay for a software when there is an Open Source alternative that works really well!?!?!?!? – Matteo Jun 16 '21 at 15:09
  • @Matteo another suggestion is to try and use a different tap. I don't know how, but this github issue comment mentions that you could try this tap – Saaru Lindestøkke Jun 16 '21 at 15:38
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    @Matteo the issue Homebrew have is that fuse is now not open source – mmmmmm Jun 16 '21 at 15:50
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    The reason to pay is that it is cheaper than the time you have spent trying to solve this issue, – mmmmmm Jun 16 '21 at 15:51
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    @Matteo You think "Open Source" == "I don't have to pay for it". It does not. Further, it works so "really well", that you can't install it. – Marc Wilson Jun 16 '21 at 16:37
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    Appears to me it's more the mac that isn't working rather than the software. I can browse NTFS just fine from Linux. This Paragon NTFS thing looks like a tax for owning a mac. – Adam Barnes Jun 16 '21 at 17:48
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    @AdamBarnes macOS can read NTFS without any problem. macOS cannot write to an NTFS volume by default. – Marc Wilson Jun 16 '21 at 19:21
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    @MarcWilson I expressed myself wrongly, I meant "Why should I pay for a software I never used/don't like/don't trust/whatever reason, when there is this open source software that I used before and worked really well for me". Furthermore, maybe, because I'm new in compiling software I only wanted to request any suggestions to try learning more, not because I didn't want to pay for any kind of software. Anyway thanks for the suggestion of using another tap and this solved it, as I never experienced a problem like that before with brew. Thanks again. – Matteo Jun 16 '21 at 20:29
  • @Matteo because the open source software you used before is now not open source and the open source version has not been updated to deal with new versions of macOS. – mmmmmm Oct 30 '21 at 08:34
  • To make it work I had to restart the Mac, start the startup security utility and enable the two checkboxes kernel extensions. I then used mounty as seen in the answer further down to mount my usb stick in write mode. – Timo Mar 07 '24 at 07:38
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It requires you to install macfuse

brew install macfuse

And then follow last steps from osxfuse/osxfuse discussion on GitHub:

brew tap gromgit/homebrew-fuse
brew install ntfs-3g-mac
Eduardo Cuomo
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Kris Rott
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    This is already mentioned in an existing answer https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/422524/237 - which gives more information – mmmmmm Nov 05 '21 at 11:03
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    Better to edit those two lines into that answer - which I have done – mmmmmm Nov 05 '21 at 11:05
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If you don't need format from Mac Os X à drive in ntfs, but only use it in read/write mode, there is the excellent utility Mounty :

Although there are reports that writing through the native driver from macOS which may cause data issues or corruption, I've never have corruption problems with my use of Mounty.

bmike
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    I first installed the packages from the top answer and then installed mounty to access my usb stick. And it worked, I now can write to it. – Timo Mar 07 '24 at 07:16
  • Excellent clarification that your experience is this works well and has no issues. Also glad you’re in business @Timo – bmike Mar 13 '24 at 18:25
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From this answer to a similar question:

While you can use NTFS-3G for accessing NTFS drives, it should be noted that recent versions of macOS support writing to NTFS drives natively. This option however is hidden from the GUI and you'd normally need the terminal to do it:

sudo mount -t ntfs -o rw,auto,nobrowse /dev/disk3s1 ~/ntfs-volume
nohillside
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Elena Davydova
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