mouNTFS

English · 简体中文

Write to NTFS. On your Mac.

Free & open source. Keep your drive's NTFS format.

No reformatting. Enable writing from the menu bar, then copy files in Finder. mouNTFS is a native Mac app for external NTFS drives, with a command-line core that requires the bundled native identity tool for mounting.

Illustrative artwork based on the app's English UI with sample drive data. Requires separately installed drivers and macOS permissions.

Current version: 0.3.4 development build. Requires separately installed macFUSE and ntfs-3g. Development downloads are ad-hoc signed and not notarized.

Get started · Downloads · Roadmap

See the app

Select a drive	Write access enabled

Operation progress and diagnostics

Operation in progress	Copyable operation report

These captures use the actual macOS app UI with sample drive data and an example log. No disk was mounted to create them. The current UI is English.

Your drive, your usual workflow

• Keep NTFS. Use your existing external drive without reformatting it.
• Enable writing from the menu bar. Select the drive, complete authorization and wait for mounting to finish.
• Continue in Finder. Copy, edit and organize files after writing is enabled; Finder opens by default after success.
• Eject when finished. Close files, then use the app's safe-eject action.

The app shows drive states and operation progress, refreshes the drive list automatically and keeps troubleshooting reports available when needed. Connecting a drive does not enable writing automatically. Initial setup requires compatible drivers, system approval and disk-access permissions.

Quick start

Requires macOS 13+, Homebrew and compatible drivers:

brew install --cask macfuse
brew install gromgit/fuse/ntfs-3g-mac

Follow the macFUSE setup guide for system approval and restart requirements. Download a successful macOS build from Releases, extract the application ZIP, and place mouNTFS.app in Applications.

1. Connect the drive and open the mouNTFS menu.
2. Select Enable Write Access… and complete macOS authorization.
3. Wait for write verification; Finder opens by default.
4. Close files before Safely Eject…, which ejects the physical disk.

If macOS denies device access, check Full Disk Access for the actual ntfs-3g executable. Administrator authorization is a separate permission. The usage guide covers setup, updates and troubleshooting. Experimental authorization settings are not required for the standard workflow.

Safety and compatibility

mouNTFS targets external NTFS partitions, checks the selected device identity, verifies writing as the current user and attempts same-volume read-only recovery on failure. It does not force-unmount, clear Windows hibernation or format a drive. Recovery can still fail; inspect diagnostics and Disk Utility if an operation fails.

Ordinary mounting has limited user-reported success on Apple Silicon. Other drive, OS and driver combinations require further testing. See the validation record for the evidence and remaining checks. FSKit remains experimental.

Documentation

For users	English	简体中文
Overview	README	项目介绍
Setup, use and troubleshooting	Usage guide	使用说明

Development documentation is maintained in English:

• Roadmap: planned stages and acceptance criteria.
• Authorization architecture: permission helper, signing and Touch ID boundaries.
• Validation record: CI, physical-Mac reports and remaining tests.
• Contributing and documentation: local builds, checks and screenshot capture.

Build and contribute

On macOS with Xcode Command Line Tools, from a checkout:

bash scripts/build-app.sh
open dist/mouNTFS.app

Download archives include a version number; the app stays mouNTFS.app so updates can replace it. Quit the old app before replacing it. The separate website download endpoint has not been updated by this development branch.

Human–AI collaboration

🤝 An experiment in human–AI collaboration, co-developed with AI buddies. 🤖 AI writes the code; 👤 humans lead design, review, testing and direction. 🥳 From a shell script to a native Mac app — let's see where this ride goes.

The collaboration is part of the project’s identity: AI writes the code while humans shape the product, review changes and test it in the real world. Original collaborators: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4o and guoquan. The current development update was prepared with Codex. Contributions and safety reviews are welcome.

MIT License © 2024–2026 Quan Guo.

Homebrew development tap

brew tap guoquan/mountfs https://github.com/guoquan/mountfs
brew install --cask guoquan/mountfs/mountfs
brew install gromgit/fuse/ntfs-3g-mac

Apple Silicon, macOS 13+. macFUSE is a declared Cask dependency; system approval and driver setup remain necessary. Downloads are ad-hoc signed and unnotarized. See installation, upgrades and uninstall.

Versioned downloads

Successful main Checks runs publish a development Release when the combination of application version and CFBundleVersion is new. Release tags use v<version>-build.<build>; increase the build number before publishing a changed app. Existing releases are retained without replacing their assets. Each Release contains the app ZIP and SHA256SUMS.txt. Releases remain ad-hoc signed and unnotarized; GitHub's Latest label identifies the newest downloadable build, not a claim of production readiness.