Throwing away a .dmg file. Does it erase your original file?

I don't know what a .dmg file is. But I seem to have hundreds scattered throughout my computer.
If I throw them away, am I in danger of loosing my original file that I downloaded?
It appears as if whenever I download anything, I get a .dmg somewhere.
What are they?
Do they take up space?
is it okay to delete them?
Cheers.
-An

A dmg file is a container file for installers,folders, and applications.
If you run the installer from the dmg file, usually it installs the applications in the Applications folder. If they are there, their corrosponding DMG file is possible to be deleted after their disk image icon (example of one) is dragged to the trash.
If you drag a folder or application out of the above icon into the Applications folder, you can then drag the above icon to the trash, and then drag its corrosponding dmg file to the trash.
DO NOT drag the dmg file to the trash if:
1. You double clicked the application from the inside of and simply added to Dock (the translucent bar at the bottom of the screen), and wish to save that application for further use.
2. You are not cloning your machine when backing up. You'll want to save any downloaded application installers to CD in case you need to restore your system from your backup. See my backup FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Treat dmg files as containers of disk images.
When double clicked those image files will become:
and will only exist as such until you either drag it to the trash, or reboot your Mac. Their contents must be moved if you want future access to them after deleting the dmg file.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.
Message was edited by: a brody

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