Dual Wifi

I just got my mac yesterday - new macbook pro 15 - and I am running into a snag. I purchased a separate usb hd thinking I could connect it to my current wifi and use it for time machine. The problem I have is that my current wifi router does not have a usb port on it. The one I had before this one did have a single usb port but sadly this one does not.

I set up my computer on the current wifi router and I can connect to the internet just fine. However, when I try to set up the second router the computer seems to choose one or the other. Is there a way to set up the computer so that it recognizes and uses both routers - using one for internet access and one for the external hd? This is one of the reasons I did not pick the time capsule because I was afraid of the interference from one router over the other.

I would just connect and use the older router, but for some reason it does not seem to like the comcast system so I can't use it as my internet router.

Currently I just connect the hd via usb to my laptop when I am home to have it do the time machine backups but I was hoping to not have to connect/disconnect every time I go home.

I don't know if you can set up both routers, but I have a time capsule and I use it as my router. It has a stronger and faster wifi signal than my Fios one. The two signals do not interfere with one another and if I am downloading very large files, I can switch routers so that I don't eat up all of the bandwidth on the time capsule.

Can you tell us which routers are involved? It should be possible to make the second one work with your ISP allowing you to use it for everything. It should also be possible to have the second router on the same network allowing you to use the Internet and hard drive at the same time.

Right now I have comcast for internet so I need a cable modem/router to connect with. Originally I had a Zoom 5350 wireless cable router and things were good for about 5 months and then for some reason it was no longer compatible with their system - even after I purchased a new one to try.

I ended up changing to a Motorola Surfboard wireless cable router. This one works great, but sadly it does not have a usb connection on it for me to connect the hard drive.

The Zoom router does have a usb port on it so I was hoping to use it as nothing more than a wireless link to my hard drive. Currently I can connect to either one, but not both at the same time. I could just plug the external drive into my usb port on the mbp, but was hoping for a wireless type connection. My system is brand new - just got it yesterday so I am willing to tweak whatever settings are needed but I am not sure which way to start.

On a second note - I believe I read this on one of the forum posts here but wanted to check - even though I set up Time Machine on my external drive, any time my external drive is not connected, does Time Machine simply write its data to empty space on my main hard drive?

First the Time Machine question: Under Lion Time Machine does store backups on your maine hard drive. The files will be deleted should space be needed for other things. OS X Lion: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs

As far as the network question is concerned perhaps my arrangement can be adapted to meet your needs. I am using a Time Capsule as the second device but your router with the USB port should also work. In my case the two devices are connected by ethernet and it therefore does not extend the range of the wireless network

1. Primary router will be be connected to cable modem and providing routing services. Set it up however you need to connect to the Internet.
2. Assuming you are using DHCP on this router see if it is possible to set aside certain numbers as reserved for static IPs that the router will not automatically assign.
3. Connect the second router to your computer via ethernet and configure it for for use with a static IP. Assign it to one of the static IP numbers that you told the other router not to use. For the DNS server number put in the number of the first router.
4. Turn off wireless on the second router.

Try this and see if it works. It may be necessary to put the second router in bridge mode. I'll look into how to do that.