Perhaps the single biggest tech advancement for Apple since the launch of the first iPhone is the new Apple Silicon M1 Chip.
All the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini versions will now come powered by Apple’s first ARM-based chip or processor as you would like to call it.
As most of you already know, the new M1 chips were in research and development for a fairly long time. For the longest time, Apple was using Intel chips to power its MacBook Air and Pro versions.
Not anymore, the Apple M1 Chip is here, and we are going to answer some questions surrounding it.
In this article, we are going to discuss whether the new chip supports NTFS drives’ read and write functions.
We will also be discussing the compatibility of third-party NTFS for Mac software to help users.
Apple’s New Silicon M1 Chips: What you should know about them?
Let us start with some numbers around the new homemade MI Chips-
- 20 Hours of Battery Life on Video Play
- 8-core CPU
- Improved Machine Learning (15x times faster)
- Faster GPU (2.5x times)
- High Performing CPU (3.5x times)
If these numbers don’t get your heart racing, I frankly don’t know what will. For an industry, which has for the longest time questioned Apple’s use of Intel chipsets, this is an answer like any from the boys over at Cupertino.
Just to put those numbers for normal understanding, the M1 Chip is the best performing, fastest, and most efficient chip ever to be created.
If you team the performance of the chip with the new macOS Big Sur, you will realize what the latest Mac devices are capable of.
Don’t get me wrong, the new M1 chip and the Big Sur OS have a lot going on for themselves. However, Apple has again failed to answer the thousands of requests on forums for NTFS support.
Yes, you still have to do it the hard way with the new M1 chip and the macOS Big Sur.
Does the new Apple MI Chip Support NTFS Read and Write Functions?
The short answer to this is No! Apple continues to play hardball when it comes to easing cross-platform functionality and accessibility.
This means that you still cannot plug in your NTFS-formatted hard drive on your breathtakingly beautiful new Mac models and expect to start reading and writing right away.
You will be able to read NTFS files, but that’s all about it. If you wish to write, there’s no way. It seems Apple does not want to make it easy for its users, after all. Going to the Terminal on your Mac device and changing codes might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Likewise, using the highly compromised exFAT format will also not be something everybody will be too keen on doing.
Hence, there is only one workable solution, which is simple, easy, and affordable and does not require you to have a degree in software engineering.
NTFS for Mac Software: Do M1 Chips Support it?
Several software companies, which made NTFS for Mac software for older Intel chip-based Mac versions have done well on this front.
The software has been easily installable on the Intel chips and the previous OS versions.
However, on testing some of the leading ones in the industry as of now, there are some changes, which we would want to direct your attention to.
The same software versions, which worked earlier, do not offer the same support on the new M1 chips.
Meaning that some of your popular NTFS for Mac providers do not work on the new M1 chip powered MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.
However, one company which showed perfect results on the new M1 powered Mac models is iBoysoft. Their NTFS software for M1-equipped Mac passed all the tests that we did concerning reading and writing NTFS files.
When you start using iBoysoft NTFS for Mac, you will forget whether you are working on an NTFS format or the local files on your Mac.
The interface, functionality, and ease of use are second to none. The 1032 KB restrictions, which are so common to such software, are not present for iBoysoft. It pushes the envelope to support 4K hard drives!
The Final Word
If you want to go for a new M1 powered Mac device but are thinking whether it will offer support for your external hard disk, then you can always rely on iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.
It’s fast, efficient, and powerful, much in the same way as the new Apple M1 Chip.