.dmg and the little virtual drives

Hello!
I'm new to macs, just had a macBook, by far the best thing I have ever bought, especially compared to the crappy windows laptop I have been using.

Anyway, downloading applications.
I think I've got it figured out. I just want to verify.

I have come to the conclusion that the .dmg file is like a disk image, and from it my mac is creating a sort of virtual drive, which is why a drive pops up on my desktop alongside the .dmg
So in most cases i simply need to drag the application from the virtual drive folder into my applications folder or something to copy the application across right? With the exception of when the virtual drive contains some kind of package installer which will let me install something to my harddrive by choice....
After this I can simply eject the drive, and delete the .dmg

Am I correct?


Cheers for the help!
James

Hey James,

Welcome to the Forums, and Congrats on your new MacBook, isn't it an amazing Machine, I have the Black MacBook.

Anyways getting to your question. Yes when you download an application it has the .dmg file and it creates that virtual disk on you Desktop. You can then drag the .dmg file into your Application folder and thats it the Program is installed nice an simple.

After that you can eject the Virtual Drive. Concerning the .dmg file you have the option of deleting it or just to keep it as a back up if you want to reinstall the program later for any reason. I keep all my .dmg files in a folder called "Disks" out of habit from my Windows days. but its all up to you.

Cheers

litleshortarse said:

I have come to the conclusion that the .dmg file is like a disk image, and from it my mac is creating a sort of virtual drive, which is why a drive pops up on my desktop alongside the .dmg
So in most cases i simply need to drag the application from the virtual drive folder into my applications folder or something to copy the application across right? With the exception of when the virtual drive contains some kind of package installer which will let me install something to my harddrive by choice....
After this I can simply eject the drive, and delete the .dmg

Am I correct?

Click to expand...

Congratulations.

You're one of the few switchers who got it completely right on the first shot. ;p

The concept of DMGs and "mounted drive" is a fairly common source of confusion to switchers.

Many make the mistake of opening the app right in the mounted Volume, and even adding the app in the Volume to the Dock.
Then they would ask, "Why does that white icon keep appearing whenever I open the program??"

MinaMACMan said:

You can then drag the .dmg file into your Application folder and thats it the Program is installed nice an simple.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you just typed it wrong; I'm guessing you mean drag the application inside to the Applications folder.

remain... thanks for correcting me. yes I did type it wrong