Total Commander

Today I've installed an update to my MiBox device (it uses Android 9 and tells that core version is 4.9.113) and I can't write to my external HDD attacted to MiBox anymore. I used to copy multimedia files from LAN to HDD before (it is slower than if I attach HDD to PC but there is no need to move HDD between PC and MiBox) but it is broken now.

When I enter external HDD from root screen, TC shows a message telling that external SD is write-protected since Android 5 and some kind of a tooltip appears over it telling that "No Activity found to handle Intent { act=android.os.storage.action.OPEN_EXTERNAL_DIRECTORY (has extras) }". If If click Yes, TC shows an error message about missing com.android.documentsui app. I've tried to install some versions of this app but with no luck, it seems that TC just crashed when I click Yes in order to select external drive folder.

Is there a way to get write access to external HDD w/o this Files app?

TC shows an error message about missing com.android.documentsui app.

Most Android TV apps don't have this app which is required for using the storage access framework, so TC will not be able to write to your HDD directly. You can try one of the available USB plugins (see end of list when clicking on "Add extensions".

Thank you for the hint, unfortunately only reading for NTFS is stated.
I wonder how it worked in previous update, and why have they removed this app now.

On some Xiaomi devices, the following instructions allow to enable the documentsui app:
1. Open Android settings > Installed Apps
2. Look for App "Documents" or "Files" near end of list
3. Enable it

Regarding NTFS, the Paragon USB plugin claims to support read and write access to NTFS.

I've tried this Paragon plugin and unfortunately it isn't too much helpful. It is really able to write to NTFS, buf TC doesn't allow copying files from LAN plugin to Paragon plugin, so the plugin doesn't solve the problem, and when HDD is connected to the plugin, it is invisible from Android and TC directly, so other apps can't access it, e.g. I can't watch a video from HDD during copying.

The Paragon plugin would have to be updated to support these functions. Unfortunately the author didn't reply to my requests. Maybe you have more luck.