- All in the official release notes.
- An NTFS-3G preference pane has been added after some time in development. The preference pane can be used to set NTFS-3G options and uninstall NTFS-3G. Open your System Preferences application after installation to try it out.
[screenshot] - Filename normalization code has been added to increase compatibility with Windows filenames including western/greek filenames with accents, and korean filenames.
Normalization is enabled by default, but can be switched off using the preference pane.
Note that using normalization may render the accented/korean filenames that you have previously created using Mac OS X / NTFS-3G inaccessible, so please test which mode works best for your particular drive. - The driver now supports returning and setting the create date for a file/directory. (This has been integrated in the main ntfs-3g source tree.)
- All file names returned that break the 255 byte limit are now truncated to 255 bytes to avoid breaking a directory listing.
- Update 1: Fix for an issue with certain applications being unable to save files to the NTFS-3G volume. This was caused by not having a setbkuptime implementation. Fixed by creating a setbkuptime stub pretending to set the backup time (there is no such thing as backup time in NTFS).
![[screenshot]](http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/ntfs-3g/prefpanescreen.png){kind=link}
- NTFS-3G 2009.1.1 Update 1 [ublio]
High performance build using internal caching - NTFS-3G 2009.1.1 Update 1 [stable]
Slower, but minimizes corruption in the event of a system crash
- Mac OS X 10.4/10.5, running on an Intel or PowerPC computer.
- MacFUSE 2.0.2/2.0.3 or later installed.
Information on how to install and use NTFS-3G for Mac OS X can be found in the User Guide.
If you are having problems with NTFS-3G, write a post about it in the NTFS-3G Forum (or post a question as a blog comment if you're just unsure of how things work).
Packaging, patching, Mac OS X-related development and testing is done in the context of my development efforts with the Catacombae projects.
Known issues:
- After installing ntfs-3g, all NTFS drives will disappear from the "Startup Disk" preference pane. Disabling or uninstalling ntfs-3g brings them back. It seems that this issue can't be solved, but only worked around since the Startup Disk preference pane doesn't recognize file system drivers that are not provided by Apple.
Possible workarounds:- Holding down the Option key during boot (or Alt for non-Apple keyboards).
- Intel users only: Install the rEFIt boot manager for better control of the boot process.
- Using the command line utility bless (see man bless for more information)
ntfs-3g 2009.1.1 Update 1 (patched)
ntfsprogs 1.13.1
NTFS-3G prefpane 0.9.6
fuse_wait.c
ntfs-3g_daemon.c
Hello, just a problem with an error message dyld: Library not loaded /usr/local/lib/libfuse2.dylib on Mac OSX 1.5.6 / macfuse 2.03 .....
ReplyDeleteThanks,
David
The Keeper:
ReplyDeleteAre you sure your MacFUSE installation is not broken?
/usr/local/lib/libfuse2.dylib is essential for ntfs-3g to work correctly.
Check your /usr/local/lib directory for that file.
If it's missing, try to uninstall MacFUSE and then reinstall it. A reboot is also recommended.
The new preference pane doesn't show up for me, on Mac OS X 10.5.6 Intel, with the latest MacFUSE 2.1.5 beta, and the NTFS-3G preference pane correctly installed in /Library/PreferencePanes: but it doesn't show up, even if directly double-clicked. Uninstalling and reinstalling MacFUSE and NTFS-3G (latest ublio version) didn't help, as well as setting the system language to English. Strange...
ReplyDeleteSven:
ReplyDeleteIndeed strange...
So it doesn't respond at all? System Preferences doesn't hang or anything?
Are you seeing any suspicious messages in /var/log/system.log?
System Preferences opens correctly, but the NTFS-3G preference pane doesn't load and isn't visibile; and no messages in the system log.
ReplyDeleteAs if it weren't there...
I have 25 third party preference panes, but that shouldn't be a major problem; I also have VMware Fusion installed, which could be the most closely related program that maybe could conflict with NTFS-3G (unlikely, anyway).
The same strange behaviour also happens with the Processor preference pane from the Apple CHUD Tools, on the same computer: it won't load.
Well, not a major issue: there's always time to solve this; I'll try to troubleshoot when I have some time...
P.S.: Tried it also on another Mac with OS X 10.4.11 PPC: everything works perfectly and the NTFS-3G preference pane (a very good idea, anyway) loads without problems.
> I have 25 third party preference panes, but that shouldn't be a major problem
ReplyDeleteAre you sure? :)
25 sounds like a lot. Maybe the System Preferences application won't accept another one.
I suggest you try to temporarily move away all or some of the other preference panes to see if NTFS-3G's preference pane can load after that.
If that is the case, write a bug report to Apple about the limitations of System Preferences.
It didn't showed up for me initially as well (10.5.6 Intel).
ReplyDeleteI have 10 3rd party prefpanes, so its not because of limitation.
Moved it to /S/L/PrefPanes and it showed up.
sozercan:
ReplyDeleteThat folder is for Mac OS X's own preference panes, so the NTFS-3G preference pane should really be located in /Library/PreferencePanes...
What if you move away the NTFS-3G preference pane from the PreferencePanes folder into your home directory and then double-click it to install it and choose to install for all users? Does that fix the issue?
Maybe there is some issue with the permissions or other file system metadata of the preference pane files that manifests itself in rare cases...
^^^ That worked, too! :-)
ReplyDeleteI copied the NTFS-3G prefpane to the Desktop (then deleting the originally installed one), and then double-clicked it, choosing to install for all users: and finally it showed up!
The permissions, BTW, are now different than before: system: read-write, admin: read-only, everyone: read-only, vs. the previous system: read-write, wheel: read-only, everyone: read-only (which are also the permissions of the MacFUSE prefpane, for example). Restoring the previous permissions with BatChmod didn't have any negative effects, anyway.
Who knows what could cause this odd behaviour...
Sven:
ReplyDeleteInteresting...
Are you running as a regular user or as an admin when you are trying to access the NTFS-3G preference pane?
As an admin...
ReplyDeleteNormalization! :D
ReplyDeleteHey! just one problem, used "Disable NTFS3G for the volumen" option and now want to reverse, but umounting and mounting dosent show the volumen on the preference pane now... any hints?
ReplyDeletePaolo:
ReplyDeleteThe entire point of disabling NTFS-3G for a volume is that NTFS-3G will not mount it. :)
This is also why it doesn't show up in the list of NTFS-3G volumes anymore.
You can take the drive to a Windows computer and delete the file .ntfs-readonly in the directory .NTFS-3G at the root of the volume to reverse this option.
Or you can force mount the volume from the command line if you know how to do that. Then it will show up in the preference pane and you can click the checkbox again.
It work, thks, I think I should use disable insted of ignore. :)
ReplyDeleteErik, this release worked like a champ on both PowerPC and a new Intel Macbook. My pastor was tearing his hair out about his Windows PC files showing up as read-ony, and this saved us a reformat into (shudder) FAT32 Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFrank:
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that. :)
Just installed this and my previously NTFS formatted disk will now not mount.
ReplyDeleteI get the error message
"NTFS-3G could not mount /dev/rdisk1s1 at /Volumes/BOOTCAMP because the following problem occurred:
Logfile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
Failed to mount '/dev//rdisk1s1' Operation not supported
Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use".
(then some more guff)
"...you can use the 'force' option command line:
mount -t ntfs-3g -o force /dev/rdisk1s1 /Volumes/BOOTCAMP"
So I did that: "realpath /Volumes/BOOTCAMP: No such file or directory"
I shut down, restarted: no error message. Good -- but no mounted NTFS volumes, either.
I have the latest MacFUSE installed (2.0.3)
where is the /etc/fstab located, and what would be the 'relevant row'for the force command?
Tim Danaher:
ReplyDeleteWhen you detach the drive from a Windows system you must always use "Safe remove hardware" before pulling the cord.
If you do not, the volume will still be marked as in use, with uncommitted journal entries, and you will get this error message.
For data safety reasons NTFS-3G doesn't mount these volumes. You should take the drive to a Windows computer and remove it safely. Then it will work safely with NTFS-3G.
Erik --
ReplyDeleteThanks for the quick reply.
Right...
...so, does mean that I was using the BOOTCAMP volume to run Windows on my Mac Pro, and my last Windows session must have ended with a crash of some sort (I don't remember one), leaving the Volume 'assigned' to Windows?
On a normal Windows shutdown, is this 'safe removal'done automatically?
And when you talk about "detaching the drive and pulling the cord", you're talking metaphorically, right? BOOTCAMP is an internal volume.
Tim Danaher:
ReplyDeleteMostly when people get this message it's because they have detached a removable drive from a Windows system without prior safe removal.
But you're right, the same situation occurs after a Windows crash.
The safe removal does occur automatically when you shut down the Windows installation normally.
Ah, right...
ReplyDeleteCheers, Erik -- thinking about it, I did have a crash...I hard to press the power switch coz XP wouldn't shut down.
Hi, I would like to say big thanks for ntfs-3g for macosx. I have downloaded and installed it as instructed on this blog and everything works out-of-the-box. Cool!
ReplyDeleteI still have a small issue that some have also experienced, that the performance on a fixed ATA/SATA disk is slow (about 1-2MiB/s). Not a big deal, I hope this will be improved in next version of ntfs-3g or MacFUSE. Thanks, Tony.
Anonymous, February 3, 2009 3:05 PM:
ReplyDeleteThat sounds unreasonably slow... I usually get at least 10 times that speed.
What are your system specs, OS version and which build are you using (ublio or stable)?
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI downloaded the latest ubiblio ntfs-3g for my wife's mac but the write time to her external HD went up by many orders of magnitude compared to when the HD was formatted in FAT32 (from 5 minutes coping a few gigs to many hours). Any idea of what's going on?
Fede
Federico Calboli:
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a serious performance problem with USB drives in the latest builds.
I'm investigating what might be causing this...
Hi, the performance issues affect firewire as well, that's what my wife uses to connect to the external HD.
ReplyDeleteFede
Hi Erik, my system config is following:
ReplyDeleteHardware: MacBookPro5,1 15", model 2.53GHz
MacOSX version: 10.5.5
MacFUSE: 2.0.3
NTFS-3G: 2009.1.1 Update 1, stable
Partition table:
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *298.1 Gi disk0
1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 39.9 Gi disk0s2
3: Microsoft Basic Data 196.1 Mi disk0s3
4: EFI 20.0 Gi disk0s4
5: Linux Swap 4.0 Gi disk0s5
6: Microsoft Basic Data 8.0 Gi disk0s6
7: Microsoft Basic Data 8.0 Gi disk0s7
8: Microsoft Basic Data 40.0 Gi disk0s8
9: Microsoft Basic Data share 177.8 Gi disk0s9
I have triple boot on MBP, and use partition #9 as the share partition between osx & linux. I cannot access that partition from WinXP, though (what an irony).
thanks,
Tony
Tony:
ReplyDeleteIs that even a question? :)
Can you access partitions 6, 7 and 8 but not number 9? ...and are you saying NTFS-3G has something to do with that?
I must say your partition layout seems really strange. Why two EFI partitions? Why 5 Microsoft partitions?
I'm not sure how your system is configured, but the legacy MBR table can only hold 4 partition entries. A normal 32-bit Windows version won't be able to access any of the partitions 5-9.
Tony:
ReplyDeleteSorry, I didn't notice your signature earlier. It would be much clearer if you didn't post as "Anonymous".
Hi Erik,
ReplyDeletesorry I didn't make it clear: it's ok with me that I cannot access partition #9 from winxp, since winxp only uses MBR and can see only the first 3 partitions. This is not a problem of ntfs-3g at all. I posted the partition layout just in case it may be helpful to find out the reason of slow performance.
I use that partition mainly for sharing data between linux & osx. So far so good, except that it's a bit slow on osx.
Regards,
Tony
I forgot to mention: the read speed from NTFS is good (>10Mib/s), but write speed is slow.
ReplyDeletethanks,
Tony
Hi Erik-
ReplyDeletethis program is great. i'm moving data from an osx machine to a vista x64 machine (40gigs worth) via a maxtor external drive. I've tried several formats and even hfsexplorer but the only way to get data over is via ntfs formatted drive over macfuse+ntfs3g.
Just wanted to drop some feedback.
I used the high performance version first which was very fast and took an hour or so to copy 40 gigs. But it crashed on me twice making the drive unreadable and so I had to go to a PC to reformat and try again. On the third time I was able to get all the data over. The data is text files, images and audio. The images look fine, so do the text files but all the audio is messed up. Like different songs have mixed or the same song is overlapping itself essentially different bit rates, i don't know. The same problem I found in the 2-3 video files I had.
Now I've uninstalled and implementing your latest stable release and copied over some test audio and it worked great. The only problem is that it will take around 7 hours to copy 40gigs!!
cheers!
Dilip Ramachandran:
ReplyDeleteAny ntfs-3g crash is really serious, and should be dealt with accordingly.
Could you post the crash log from these occasions as a message in the NTFS-3G Forum?
The crash logs should be found under /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ and begin with ntfs-3g.
(By the way, what problems did HFSExplorer have with the drive? You can report HFSExplorer problems to the HFSExplorer forum)
Hi Erik, an update on the write speed on my wife's external HD. I reformatted the drive 'slowly', i.e. not ticking the 'fast formatting' box in windows (a 320 gig drive took 1 hour plus to format). The drive now works fine, the write and read times are acceptable -- write time for 1 gig in 35 second-ish. The improvement is visible for both my wife's computed (intel mac with the latest Tiger) and mine (intel mac with the latest Leopard). Aside from reformatting nothing has changed, so that might be one possible way forward.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much indeed for doing this guys. This version really solves most of the last few issues. You really are a role model for our society.
ReplyDeleteFederico Calboli:
ReplyDeleteDid you have anything on the drive prior to reformatting? I don't think a "slow" format should do much difference, but it might be a problem if the data on the drive is severely fragmented, which might be the case after having used it for a long time in Windows.
I can recommend that anyone with performance problems make sure that their drives are as little fragmented as possible, by defragmenting them in Windows.
I reformatted the NTFS volume without "fast formatting" option as Federico did, but it didn't help. Also tried to remove NTFS-3G and MacFUSE, and reinstall them. The result is still the same: read speed ok, write speed slow.
ReplyDeleteErik,
ReplyDeletethe drive is new, it had less than 1 gig of data on. Unfortunately my wife did not plug in the firewire cable and that might have caused the problem the first time around, before I reformatted the disk
A second issue encountered was that the disk would not mount complaining of an unclean unmount beforehands (the disk was briefly used by a student on his Mac, and I have no reason to believe it was not unmounted properly). I solved the problem typing the following on the terminal:
ReplyDeletesudo mkdir -p /Volumes/External
sudo /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/External -olocale=en_US.UTF-8,force,auto_xattr,defer_auth,defer_permissions,volname="External"
sudo umount /dev/disk1s1
Unplug the cable, replug and the disk is now working again and visible on the desktop.
One more problem. I noticed that:
ReplyDelete1) 99% of the time a winbox will not safely remove the external hd complaining it's in use when it's not
2) most of the time using the finder in osx will cause the 'unclean removal' problem that requires a forced mount/unmount from terminal. The problem does not arise if the unmount come in the form of
sudo umount
Incidentally, the drive is sometimes disk1s1 or disk2s1, which makes writing a simple script to deal with it a pain.
Federico Calboli:
ReplyDeleteI just released the latest version of NTFS-3G, version 2009.2.1.
The issue with uncleanly unmounted drives is much easier to deal with in the latest release, since you will now get a dialog box where you can choose to force mount a volume if it's uncleanly unmounted.
It keeps saying "/usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib" not found.
ReplyDeleteAnd i checked everywhere. i also uninstalled and installed MacFuse.
It refuses to identify my WD Harddrive.
And it used to a month ago.
Anonymous, January 6, 2011 7:56 AM:
ReplyDeleteThis version is about a year old by now, so please upgrade to the latest version and see if your problem is still there.
...actually about two years old.
ReplyDelete