This post is brought to you by Paragon Software Group, maker of Paragon NTFS for Mac.
Mac and PC are like yin and yang, or oil and water — essentially similar yet significantly distinct. It’s not just a difference in personal computing preference: The two platforms are literally built not to communicate with one another.
Apple and Microsoft coded their operating systems using completely different languages for writing files to drives, HFS+ and NTFS respectively. OS X offers only limited support for files written to a Windows-formatted drive, whether an external hard drive, SSD or USB stick, which can mean major headaches if you’re living or working in a cross-platform world.
Booting up a virtual machine to run Windows on a Mac can be a chore, and running only one platform means you can’t interact with the other without complex workarounds. Many of us use Macs because we hope to avoid having to dig into command lines and other under-the-hood processes.
If you find yourself in a situation where moving between Mac and PC platforms is a necessity, you’re stuck with these kinds of workarounds. And Windows sure can feel like a wall.
Open Windows files on Mac with Paragon NTFS for Mac
Image: Paragon Software Group
Paragon NTFS for Mac offers an easy solution for this frustrating issue. It bridges the language barrier between Mac and Windows. After a quick and easy installation process, you can mount any NTFS partition just like a native one on your Mac.
It feels like a superpower at first. The first step is installing a simple .dmg file, which adds a set of special drivers to your machine before disappearing into the background. After that, you just insert the drive you keep your Windows files on, then open it up like any other.
You instantly gain read/write access to all the files on the NTFS-formated drive. And you can create and repair NTFS partitions — all with no intermediate steps required.
Work with NTFS partitions on Mac
This is great news for the typical user who is just looking to painlessly access Windows files on a Mac. But for power users with more nuanced needs, Paragon NTFS for Mac delivers full read/write access to the NTFS partition.
It offers tools for formatting any partition as NTFS, verifying NTFS partition integrity, and fixing errors (even adjusting the NTFS drivers’ behavior). The software runs at native speed, with optimization for solid state drives, meaning there’s zero performance loss. (A glowing Macworld review said Paragon NTFS for Mac makes working with Windows files “virtually indistinguishable from using native OS X volumes.”)
Paragon makes a point of offering full and timely support (with free upgrades) for all versions of the software. And in the spirit of bridging a language divide, the latest version of Paragon NTFS for Mac includes full support for 16 languages, including many with non-Roman characters like Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian.
Try Paragon NTFS for Mac today
Don’t let the bickering of two tech giants get between you and your files. If you’re caught in the middle of the Mac and Windows silent treatment, we recommend you download a free trial of Paragon NTFS for Mac and see how easy it can be to bridge tech’s greatest divide. If you find it indispensable, you’ll pay just $19.95 for a license to use the latest version, which is fully compatible with all versions of OS X, from Mountain Lion to El Capitan, and already supports macOS Sierra Preview.
