Photoshop’s Background layer is mainly a special, locked base layer that represents the original image. In modern workflows, you usually won’t lose anything important by duplicating it and converting or removing the original. You can also convert it to a normal layer directly.

That said, many people keep the untouched Background layer as a safety net. It gives you a clean reference for before/after comparisons, and if an edit goes too far, you can copy the original back to the top and use opacity, masks, or blend modes to dial things back.

So the practical answer is:

• yes, you can duplicate it and work from the copy
• yes, you can convert it to a normal layer if you want full layer features
• no, the special Background layer usually isn’t essential

Its main value is convenience: preserving the original image at the bottom of the stack while you edit non-destructively on new layers.