I have a multi-partitioned external disk (using GUID partition table) connected via Thunderbolt2 that I'm using with my MacBook as follows: Partition 1: (HFS+) Full backup of my MacBook - Auto-mounting for this partition has been disabled. Partition 2: (HFS+) Time Machine - Auto-mounts when the external disk is plugged in. Partition 3: (NTFS) Secondary Windows Storage - Auto-mounts in read-only mode when plugged in. The primary disk for my Windows VM is located on my Macbook's internal drive and I've set up Partition 3 of the external disk as a 2nd disk in Windows using Bootcamp option. This has worked great in general except for one problem - this setup tethers me to my desk when at times I either need to be mobile or just want a change of scenery! I can't just unplug and go mobile if the VM is running nor can I start the VM without the disk plugged in. In either case I have to shutdown the VM, go into the configuration, and delete the 2nd hard disk before I can go mobile. Then if I go back to my desk I can't just plug in the disk and have it appear in the guest - I have to shut it all down again, add the 2nd hard disk back to the VM configuration, and then boot it back up. I tried other configurations in the past: a) Telling parallels to connect the external disk to the Windows VM but then Time Machine doesn't work for the macbook as the guest VM mounts all of the partitions. b) Telling parallels to connect the external disk to the Host and using SmartMount to share the partition with the VM but then it's a read-only 'network' drive - which is problematic on 2 fronts - that it's read-only (and I need read-write from the Windows VM) and it's considered a network mapped drive which frustrates some Windows programs and .NET functionality (they just won't work with networked disks). Is there any way to have the third partition (Storage NTFS) mount directly in read/write mode (I guess as an external disk - not network mapped) to the Guest OS if the VM is running or is started up after the disk is plugged in? Such that the VM will start cleanly if the disk isn't plugged in, the disk can be plugged in or ejected from the VM at any time and if/when the VM is not started or if the partition was ejected from the VM, it would be mounted read-only in Host.
