So, you just bought an external hard drive and wanted to use it on your Mac. But somehow, macOS doesn't allow you to write data to the drive.That's all because it's been initialized with Windows NT File System (NTFS), which is primarily for PCs. Apple Mac machines support a different file system.In this post, I'm []. Download Tuxera 2018 Full Version – NTFS Mac High Sierra A few years ago, mac users could only cried as they neither can write nor read ntfs on mac. Even up until today, it was still very stressful for a new mac user.
Aug 28,2019 • Filed to: Mac Tutorials
'Is there a reliable PDF reader for Mac?'
Mac users have a number of PDF reader programs to choose from, including Adobe Reader for Mac and Preview. But if you want a better PDF reading experience, you might want to use a more robust and powerful PDF program. In this article, we’ve compiled the top 12 free PDF reader for Mac tools including PDFelement Pro, which offers more features than a simple PDF reader.
Part 1: Top 12 Best PDF Reader Tools for Mac
1. PDFelement Pro - The Best Alternative PDF Reader to Adobe Acrobat for Mac
As high-quality as Adobe Reader is due to its constant updates and improvements, you can also look into alternative programs that can perform many of the same tasks. PDFelement Pro for Mac, as the best alternative PDF Reader to Adobe Acrobat for Mac, acts as both a PDF editor and reader that provides you full functions for PDF editing and a better experience reading PDF on Mac. This tool lets you add text, images, bookmarks, and more to your PDF. In addition, a user can also highlight text, underline, use strike-through features on the text and crop PDF pages on Mac. Watermarks can also be used to protect your PDF files on Mac. You can even edit and convert scanned PDF files with PDFelement Pro.
Key Features of this PDF Reader:
- Add, delete or edit text, images, graphics, links, watermarks, and more.
- Convert PDF to Word and other formats, or create PDFs from Webpages, images, and text files.
- Quickly mark up and annotate PDFs with various annotation tools.
- Combine or split PDFs, organize pages, and easily fill out PDF forms.
- Edit and convert scanned or image-based PDFs using the OCR feature.
- Easily add watermarks, passwords, and signature to PDF documents.
2. Skim - A Popular and Well-developed PDF Reader for Mac
Skim is a popular PDF Reader on Mac that is tailored towards scientific purposes, although it can also be used to view other types of documents as well. This free PDF reader software is designed to be customizable for individual use, and is handy for notes and previews. The reason why Skim is one of the most popular options is because it includes easy-to-use and visually impressive reading modes.
Key Features:
- Single swipe highlight mode for easy use
- AppleScript support
- Ability to preview internal links
3. Adobe Reader for Mac - A Widely Used Free PDF Reader
You can download Adobe Reader on Mac for free and set it as your default PDF reader. Adobe Reader for Mac is considered the industry standard. Adobe is still a very well respected product on the market, as they are constantly making improvements and upgrades to the program, but there are other options that offer many of the same features at a lower price and without without complicated licensing agreements.
Key Features:
- Fast and easy to use
- Established platform worldwide
- Considered industry standard
- Well developed and supported
Ntfs-3g For Mac Sierra
4. Free PDF Reader - A Simple to Use Mac PDF Rreader
This is another very popular Free PDF Reader for Mac. It includes many excellent features, and is designed to be easy to navigate and simple to use. The software claims to have 150million users, which indicates a tried and tested package, and offers some impressive features including:
Key Features:
- Multi document viewing feature
- Rotate and Zoom facility
- Exporting and conversion capabilities
- Advanced printing options
5. Haihaisoft Reader for Mac - A Small Size Free PDF Reader for Mac
A prominent feature of Haihaisoft for Mac is its small size at only 3MB ; this compact PDF Reader for Mac takes up much less space than other programs like Adobe Reader (see below). The package covers a wide range of languages and is designed for ease of use, while it is also well supported and has been developed for use on a number of platforms. Interesting features include:
Key Features:
- Instant launch time
- No background net connection for added security
- Opens all PDF documents
- Protection with DRM-X
6. PDFSam - A New Free PDF Reader for Mac
PDFSam is a relatively new release that has been met with mixed reviews. This free PDF reader for Mac is designed for splitting and merging documents, hence why it is called 'SAM'. Some users report problems while using the application, though generally it is reported to be user-friendly and quick for the average user.
Key Features:
- Split and Merge – (SAM)
- Extract sections as separate PDFs
- Reorder pages when needed
- Compose documents by dragging and dropping
7. PDF Info - An Easy-to-use Free PDF Reader
PDF Info is specifically designed for viewing information stored in PDF documents, rather than actually creating new ones. While it is limited in its operation, it is easy to use and designed in a basic and uncluttered style.
Key Features:
- Easy to install and use
- Quick operation
- View info in PDF
- Very small download size
8. Read Right - A Flexible Free PDF Reader
Read Right is a clever product, designed to tackle the increasing numbers of smaller notebook type laptops. It’s most beneficial feature is that it automatically rotates the screen to fit – book style – on a handheld device, making it much more convenient to use.
Key Features:
- Multiple navigation options
- Zoom control for expansion
- Possible white on black text option for readers
- Returns to the same page after interruption
9. Open Office 3 - A Versatile Free PDF Reader
The latest version of this popular and very versatile Open Office PDF reader is designed for business and personal users to read PDF files on Mac. It includes an impressive new array of features that have been improved and refined. It continues to be one of the leading free PDF readers for Mac on the market.
Key Features Includes:
Ntfs Reader For Mac Free
- Abilityt to import Microsoft Office file types
- Advanced features for note taking
- Chart creation tools
- The ability to export and share spreadsheets
10. PDF Lab - A Well-developed Free PDF Reader
Designed to facilitate the manipulation of documents, PDF Lab is a well-developed and tested platform that is popular with a variety of users. A simple and user-friendly interface lets you use this tool as a PDF viewer. It can be updated through a regular software update, although at times you may have to do manual step-by-step updates.
Key Features:
- Insert images and blank pages
- Create new PDFs
- Split documents into several different files
- Encrypt documents for security
11. Formulate Pro - A Simple Free PDF Reader
This is an easy-to-use and popular program, Formulate Pro does not have a ton of features, but it is a basic and effective tool for amending documents. This tool is not designed for creation of PDFs, but it is certainly an effective reader.
Key Features:
- Open and edit existing PDFs
- Add graphics and other images
- Write using the cursor
- Print out PDFs
12. PDFView - An Impressive Free PDF Reader
PDFView offers a range of impressive features within a compact and easy to use package. It comes highly recommended by many users, and is a great way to read PDF documents. However, one issues is that it is no longer being developed, which means it might not be the best choice for a full-time PDF reader.
Key Features:
- Has many customizable settings
- Fit document to maximum screen size
- Zoom in and out on PDFs
- More features than Preview
Part 2: Troubleshooting on Opening and Reading PDFs in macOS
Many people experience problems when trying to open or read PDFs on Mac. This is due to a variety of reasons, but luckily this problem is usually quite an easy one to solve in just a matter of minutes. Here are the three main reasons why you may have a problem reading a PDF on Mac, and what you can do to solve the problem.
Question 1. Your Web Browser needs Updating
Solution: This is one of the most common problemsthat can prevent you from being able to read a PDF. Not all not all browsers update automatically, and it could be that yours needs a manual update. You can usually run a regular software update, but other times you may be required to update manually through the menu. An outdated browser may be the issue, in which case you may need to update your browser to resolve the issue. You can then make annotations and markups within your document.
Question 2. Your Browser is not Compatible
Solution: This issue depends on your operating system. If you are running OS 10.5 x, as many are, you will find that the later versions of Safari, for example, are non-compatible with your operating system. This will lead to you being unable to open PDFs, as well as a number of other problems. It is recommended that users with this operating system try using Firefox instead, as that may solve the problem.
Question 3. Check the Adobe Reader Plug-in
Solution: This problem also affects many users. If you are opening your PDF with Adobe Reader, the Adobe Reader Plug-in can be problematic, especially if it is an automatic launch when you enter your browser. The trick is to delete the plug-in (just the plug in, not Adobe Reader itself). Try using Adobe Reader as a stand-alone program rather than having it run within your browser, and the problem should be solved. You can also re-install the plug-in if necessary.
0 Comment(s)
Apple’s macOS can read from Windows-formatted NTFS drives, but can’t write to them out of the box. Here are a few solutions for getting full read/write access to NTFS drives.
This could be useful if you want to write to a Boot Camp partition on your Mac, as Windows system partitions must use the NTFS file system. However, for external drives, you should probably use exFAT instead. macOS can natively read and write to exFAT drives, just like Windows can.
Three Options
Ntfs For Mac
RELATED:What’s the Difference Between FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS?
There are several options for this, and you’ll need to choose one:
- Paid Third-Party Drivers: There are third-party NTFS drivers for Mac that you can install, and they’ll work quite well. These are paid solutions, but they’re easy to install and should offer better performance than the free solutions below.
- Free Third-Party Drivers: There’s a free and open-source NTFS driver you can install on a Mac to enable write support. Unfortunately, this take a bit of extra work to install, especially on Macs with the new System Integrity Protection feature, added in 10.11 El Capitan. It’s slower than paid solutions and automatically mounting NTFS partitions in read-write mode is a security risk.
- Apple’s Experimental NTFS-Write Support: The macOS operating system includes experimental support for writing to NTFS drives. However, it’s off by default and requires some messing around in the terminal to enable it. It isn’t guaranteed to work properly and could potentially cause problems with your NTFS file system. In fact, we’ve had it corrupt data before. We really don’t recommend using this. It’s disabled by default for a reason.
We highly recommend paying for a third-party NTFS driver if you need to do this as the other solutions don’t work as well and are more work to set up.
The Best Paid Third-Party Driver: Paragon NTFS for Mac
Paragon NTFS for Mac costs $19.95 and offers a ten-day free trial. It’ll install cleanly and easily on modern versions of macOS, including macOS 10.12 Sierra and Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan. It really does “just work”, so it’s the best option if you’re willing to pay a small amount of money for this feature.
You also won’t have to fiddle with terminal commands to manually mount partitions, insecurely mount partitions automatically, or deal with potential corruption as you will with the free drivers below. If you need this feature, paying for software that does it properly is worth it. We cannot stress this enough.
If you own a Seagate drive, be aware that Seagate offers a free download of Paragon NTFS for Mac so you won’t have to purchase anything extra.
You could also purchase Tuxera NTFS for Mac, which costs $31 and offers a fourteen-day free trial. But Paragon NTFS does the same thing and is cheaper.
The Best Free Third-Party Drivers: FUSE for macOS
This method is free, but it requires a good bit of work, and is less secure. To make your Mac automatically mount NTFS partitions in read-write mode, you’ll have to temporarily disable System Integrity Protection and replace one of Apple’s built-in tools with a binary that is more vulnerable to attack. So this method is a security risk.
However, you can use FUSE to mount NTFS partitions in read-write mode manually if you don’t mind using the Terminal. This is more secure, but it’s more work.
First, download FUSE for macOS and install it. Use the default options when installing it.
RELATED:How to Install Packages with Homebrew for OS X
You’ll also need Apple’s command line developer tools installed to continue. If you haven’t installed them yet, you can open a Terminal window from Finder > Applications > Utilities and run the following command to do so:
Click “Install” when you’re prompted to install the tools.
RELATED:How to Install Packages with Homebrew for OS X
In addtion, you’ll need to download and install homebrew if you haven’t already installed it on your Mac. Homebrew is a “package manager” for Mac OS X. Copy-paste the following command into a Terminal window and press Enter to install it:
Press Enter and provide your password when prompted. The script will automatically download and install Homebrew.
Once you’ve installed the developer tools and Homebrew, run the following command in a Terminal window to install ntfs-3g:
You can now manually mount NTFS partitions in read/write mode. From a terminal window, run the following command to create a mount point at /Volumes/NTFS. You only need to do this once.
When you connect an NTFS drive to the computer, run the following command to list any disk partitions:
You can then identify the device name of the NTFS partition. Just look for the partition with the Windows_NTFS file system. In the screenshot below, it’s /dev/disk3s1
.
The NTFS partition was probably automatically mounted by your Mac, so you’ll need to unmount it first. Run the following command, replacing /dev/disk2s1
with the device name of your NTFS partition.
To mount the drive, run the following command, replacing /dev/disk2s1
with the device name of your NTFS partition.
You’ll see the file system mounted at /Volumes/NTFS. It will also appear on your desktop as a normal mounted drive. You can eject it normally when you want to unplug it.
If you’re happy manually mounting partitions with the above instructions, you don’t have to continue.
RELATED:How to Disable System Integrity Protection on a Mac (and Why You Shouldn’t)
If you want to make your Mac automatically mount NTFS drives you connect in read-write mode, you’ll need to disable System Integrity Protection.
Warning: You probably don’t want to do this! The software’s official instructions warn that this is a security risk. You will be replacing the NTFS mount tools in your Mac with the ntfs-3g tools, which will run as the root user. Because of the way Homebrew installs software, malware running on your Mac could overwrite these tools. It’s probably not work the risk, but we’ll explain how to do if if you want to take the risk.
Reboot your Mac and hold Command+R while it’s booting. It’ll boot into a special recovery mode environment.
Launch a terminal from the Utilities menu in recovery mode and run the following command:
Once you have, reboot your Mac normally.
From the Mac desktop, open a Terminal window again and run the following commands to make ntfs-3g function:
Lastly, re-enable System Integrity Protection. Reboot your Mac and hold Command+R while it’s booting to enter recovery mode. Launch a terminal in recovery mode and run the following command:
Once you have, reboot your Mac. NTFS-write support should be functioning now.
To undo your changes and uninstall everything, you’ll need to first disable System Integrity Protection. After you do, run the following commands:
You can then uninstall FUSE for macOS from its panel in the System Preferences window and re-enable System Integrity Protection.
You can see why we recommend the $20 option instead now, huh?
Apple’s Experimental NTFS-Writing Support: Don’t Do This, Seriously
We don’t recommend the below method because it’s the least tested. This might not work properly, so don’t blame us or Apple if you experience problems. It’s still unstable as of macOS 10.12 Sierra, and it may never be fully stable. This is really just here for educational purposes.
First, be sure that your drive has a convenient single-word label. If it doesn’t, change its label. This will make this process easier.
You’ll first need to launch a terminal. Navigate to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal or press Command+Space, type Terminal, and press Enter.
Type the following command into the terminal to open the /etc/fstab file for editing in the nano text editor:
Add the following line to nano, replacing “NAME” with the label of your NTFS drive:
Press Ctrl+O to save the file after you’re done, and then press Ctrl+X to close nano.
(If you have multiple NTFS drives you want to write to, add a different line for each.)
Ntfs Reader For Mac Sierra
Connect the drive to the computer—unplug it and reconnect it if it’s already connected—and you’ll see it under the “/Volumes” directory. In a Finder window, you can click Go > Go to Folder and type “/Volumes” into the box to access it. It won’t pop up automatically and appear on your desktop like drives normally do.
To undo this change later, just repeat the above process to open the /etc/fstab file in nano. Delete the line you added to the file and save your changes.
Most Mac users will be better off formatting external drives with exFAT, ensuring they work well on both Windows and Mac OS X without any extra work. if you must write to an NTFS drive, one of the paid, third-party drivers will be the easiest option with the best performance and least risk of file corruption.
READ NEXT- › What Can I Do with My Old iPhone?
- › How to Stream UFC 242 Khabib vs. Poirier Live Online
- › Free Download: Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows 10
- › How to Overclock Your Computer’s RAM
- › What’s New in Chrome 77, Arriving September 10