NTFS works for me without any problems. I couldn't get a manual read/write NTFS mount to work in read-write mode, only in read-only.
After you have plugged in the external drive, go to Disk Utility and check to see if its just that the NTFS partition has failed to mount. If you can see it, you might be able to just right click > mount "name"
Check Applications > Utilities > Console for kernel messages and errors etc.
or
try this in terminal:
First, find the device in /dev (will probably be something like /dev/disk2s1 etc). In terminal, you might want to try typing ls -l /dev/disk* or ls -l /dev/disk1* or ls -l /dev/disk2* to help you locate it. When you think you have found it.... type
sudo su -
[enter password]
mkdir -p /Volumes/ntfstest
/sbin/mount_ntfs /dev/disk2s1 /Volumes/ntfstest (substitute /dev/disk2s1 with your device you found above)
and see what happens. check for messages in console again.
If it mounts, it should should be able to access it and eject it thru Finder, if not just type:
umount /Volumes/ntfstest
Then report to Apple.