Dropbox located on external drive isn't syncing files & they end up going missing on other accounts.

[nofin]

I've had major issues with Dropbox since I've started working at this location. I was unable to actually work with Dropbox on my computer until I requested an upgrade in storage, and they gave me a 1TB harddrive, to which I reinstalled dropbox and placed the root within. This drive was surprisingly flimsy, and would disconnect occasionally, the odd thing is, that this would remove all shared files from everyone else's device but my own. I am now speaking directly with the CEO, to find out what the issue is, I cannot remember how I fixed it the last couple times, it just ended up working after I struggled for hours with it. We have about 0.4 TB's of data total, I've tried hitting "Make available online only" through Windows, did "manage hard drive space" through windows, and tried just dragging and dropping files. Nothing seems to be fixing the issue. 
I desperately need help to avoid my computer being the one hosting the entire companies data, I'm the newest to the team and all I do is graphic design. I'd appreciate anything helpful. 

[Hannah]

Hey @nofin, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.

Generally, keeping your Dropbox folder on an external drive, is not something we recommend, because it does hold a risk of deletions, if the drive gets disconnected.

That being said, would you mind clarifying the syncing issue a bit?

Do you mean that the changes the other users are making to the files, do not sync to your Dropbox folder and the changes you make, do not sync for them?

Also, what's the sync status and version of your Dropbox, if you hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray?

Let me know and we'll go from there.

[nofin]

Hey Hannah, thanks for reaching out and helping me with this. I did manage to relink the dropbox and upload a few files, keyword being few. It seemed to have erased many files after I relinked. 
What I mean by syncing is that it did NOT allow me to make changes up until I relinked it. No uploading, "make available online only" nothing. Now I can do those actions. 
What I need help with now it seems is recovering the files that were lost, it was hundreds of gigs of company files that I am unsure how much it had to do with me. The sync status currently is "Up to date"

[Megan]

Hey @nofin, thanks for letting us know! 

Have you checked both your deleted files page, and your events page to see what you can recover from there? 

The Events page gives you an overview of all activity in your account including files events (adds/edits/deletes), as well as adding or removing shared folders.