I have a master drive, a Samsung, in my HP computer with a Windows XP Home Edition operating system on it. Now I have taken a hard drive out of one of my other PC's that is an IBM but not as big and not as fast. It has Windows XP Professional Edition OS on it. I want to add that hard drive onto the HP as a slave drive and leave the Samsung as the master drive. How do I do it? Is it just a matter of plugging it in and LETTING Windows find it, or will there be a CONFLICT between the two operating systems? Also, when the IBM drive was in the other pc it was the Master drive. Do I have to change the switch pins in the back of it to make it a slave drive?
A great thanks to whoever can help. There can be only one master and one slave. Check the drives. Each should show how to SET the jumpers at the back of the drive for master/slave/cable select. Jumper them accordingly and you shouldn't have any problems. Although this is no guarantee as there can be compatibility issues between manufacturers'.

Alan <><

I'm sorry for seeking a clarification, but the fact that they will both have an operating system on them, and DIFFERENT ones at that, will not be a problem? That's not a problem. As long as the original drive is jumpered as master, that's what the system will boot from. Win XP Pro, on the second/slave drive, will simply be ignored.