gaff-tails:
> Is there a way I can create and mount a persistent volume that isn't on a USB stick? I understand that this comes with security risks - My main aim here is develop and test tails features using virtual box or similar.
For testing purpose, I can tell you that Tails will offer to use a
persistent volume any GPT partition that has the name "TailsData".
But use at your own risk.
You can also use virt-manager from Linux which allows to work with
virtual USB sticks that support persistence:
https://tails.boum.org/doc/advanced_topics/virtualization/virt-manager/
--
sajolida