Thread: memory question (pointer related)

Quick [dumb] question: I have a huge data storage class (lets call it DataClass). If I declare a pointer to that class, would that pointer take up a lot of memory (I am having memory problems so I want to be careful), or since its just a pointer (only storing an address) would the amount of memory it uses be trival?

example:

Code:

SomeClass{
private:
   DataClass *ptrDataClass; // ptr to huge data class
public:
   ...
};

SomeClass::SomeClass(DataClass* dc){
   // addition side question: do I have to say ptrDataClass = new DataClass() ???
   ptrDataClass = dc;
}

(in reference to "the other point there"). Things only get screwed up if the "master/origonal" DataClass gets deallocated right? If I just create a pointer to that class, and the pointer gets deallocated, it shouldn't screw anything up...(right?).

Also, if I did want to create a copy of the origonal class (from a pointer) is this how I would do it:

Code:

SomeClass{
private:
   DataClass *ptrDataClass; // ptr to huge data class
public:
   ...
};

SomeClass::SomeClass(DataClass* dc){
   ptrDataClass = new DataClass();
   *ptrDataClass = *dc; // does this give me a deep copy? 
}

(I'm still new to this deep copy thing, and copying the value that pointers point to.