Connect a new NTFS volume, and you have to open the prefs pane and add the new volume as writable. Once you add a volume, it remembers and that volume remains writable after power off, restart, whatever. SL-NTFS is a System Preferences pane that adds write attribute to a volume on a case-by-case basis. NTFS-3G is a replacement driver, so all NTFS volumes work as read-write instantly. NTFS is read-write in Windows, read-only in OS X (The Apple NTFS driver is read-only), but if you install NTFS-3G or SL-NTFS in OS X, it becomes read-write in OS X also. read-write means everything works perfectly for all purposes. 'Compatible' terms: - read-only means you can see all files normally, can copy a file FROM the volume to another volume, but cannot copy anything TO the volume or move or rename any files on the read-only volume. Windows can use NTFS or FAT-32 format (called 'MS-DOS file system' in OS X Disk Utility), but the former is much better. Time Machine requires 'Mac OS Extended' format, and the 'journaled' version is best. Best Answer: Below are all the facts you need to make a decision, but here is my simple plan: INSTALL NTFS-3G DRIVER IN OS X, RESTART, USE DISK UTILITY TO PARTITION AS APPLE PARTITION MAP, TWO VOLUMES, FORMAT ONE 'MAC OS EXTENDED (JOURNALED)', FORMAT THE OTHER NTFS (NOT COMPRESSED).
