Stuck on sync for 4000 photos/can't edit without harddrive connected

So, I take a lot of photos and usually am uploading around 500-1000 at a time (probably not a lot to some of you). I've been working with Lightroom and a LaCie external hard drive and I have "Storage location for originals" set to the LaCie because I thought that was the smartest way to work, I also have the LightroomLibrary.lrlibrary file on the LaCie.

Ever since I started doing this, I need to have the LaCie plugged in to be able to edit photos which has been annoying because the LaCie consistently dismounts itself or has trouble mounting, this results in photos saying "File is missing". Photos do not load on Lightroom if it is not plugged in. It has said "Syncing Items" for 4085 photos for a few days now and nothing seems to ever change. It's made it impossible to edit anything. Even sometimes when the LaCie is mounted, my Lightroom editing section will be greyed out and not let me edit anything. With that being said, am I doing something completely wrong that is making my workflow horrendous? I pride myself usually on having quick turnover for track meets and races, but this has made it impossible to import, edit, and export in an even remotely timely fashion. Is there a way that I can work without the LaCie plugged in and just seamlessly edit? 

Plz help.