You can download an older precompiled version of NTFS-3G. And some are more integrated in OS X while others will require Terminal commands to mount their file systems.įor NTFS support, one of the more popular FUSE modules is NTFS-3G, an open-source package from Tuxera. Keep in mind that some modules are well tested and regularly used, while others might not be. Once installed, you can install the desired module for the various file systems you would like to manage on your Mac. To get started, download and install FUSE for OS X. These approaches are experimental and fun, but FUSE does have useful options that allow you to expand your Mac’s file system support beyond the natively supported formats, including allowing access to Ext3 drives, full NTFS support, and even letting you mount SFTP shares as local drives. In this case a mounted storage device’s data will be spread out among a number of garbled PNG images (a perhaps amusing, but frankly bizarre, way to manage your files). For instance, in addition to using multiple Web storage services as a single drive, FUSE modules have been written to use PNG image files for storing drive data. On the other hand it offers vast flexibility in storage options. File system access performs less well than with native kernel support, for example. You can then mount them as a single volume on the system, much like you’d plugged in a USB drive.įUSE has its limitations, however.

For instance, if you have several cloud-based storage accounts, you can write a small module that will connect all of these services with FUSE. These modules can read various storage formats, and then, with FUSE’s help, can be mounted and accessed as a drive-like storage medium. FUSE works by providing a behind-the-scenes interface between Apple’s storage routines and specially programmed modules that you install on your Mac.

How to manage storage on mac os x