Following up on last month’s Release Candidate preview version, Paragon Software Group has taken the wraps off the release version of NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0, the latest version of its Mac driver to read & write to Windows disks.

In a press release on Tuesday, the Paragon Software Group announced the immediate availability of NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0, the first cross-platform solution to support Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in both 32-bit and 64-bit modes. The $39.95 driver allows users to write to Windows-formatted NTFS disks in addition to read from them, which is already available with Mac OS X.

But Paragon’s driver doesn’t stop there -- NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0 has been tested to read and write around 90MB per second, achieving the speed of native HFS+ drivers and making it hands-down the fastest NTFS driver available. The software also includes a read-only version of HFS for Windows, which allows Windows users to access Mac HFS+ formatted disks as well.

“We are very excited to offer this new software to our fast growing NTFS for Mac OS X user base,” said Tom Fedro, the head of the American division of Paragon Software Group in a press release.  “Paragon NTFS for Mac 8 is the only solution on the market based on file-system drivers, which makes it unique with regards to stability and performance.  Paragon was the first to officially break down the communication barriers between Mac and Windows, and we remain committed to bringing users the newest features with NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0.”

Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0 is available for purchase now at Paragon’s website for $39.95, with upgrade offers yet to be announced. If you want to try it out before you buy, a free 10-day trial download is also available.