I’m looking at this HDD.
It says it is for Windows. My thought is it probably has software on it that only work with Windows. If I choose not to use it the drive will work for any OS. Does that sound reasonable? Say what you want about the archaic hhd. 4TB for $114. is not a bad price. That’s $28.50 a TB. 
That does sound reasonable. That would be my take on it too 
The WesternDigital product page for it says:
- Reformatting may be required for other operating systems.
Compatibility may vary depending on user’s hardware configuration and operating system.
If it’s formatted with exFAT, you should be able to access that just fine, but you may also feel inclined to format it to something like ext4 or btrfs, if it’ll be used on Linux only. The bundled tools, as you say though, are probably Windows only.
Personally I wouldn’t go for a portable hdd these days , a better choice would be a SSD drive or an enclosure you could put e.g. a nvme drive in. But they might not come cheap, but are faster and more reliable then a HDD.
My usage is for movie storage that is connected directly to my oled tv. I dont need ssd speed to watch a movie, and I dont need a nas either. I was about to pull the trigger on a nas, but a simple drive connected to the tv works just fine, and is a lot cheaper. My 1TB drive is full, so Im in the market for a larger drive. This WD drive is the ticket I think. Maybe I ll get 2, and use one for a backup 
Given you’ll be connecting it to the TV, it seems ideal then.
I opted for an option similar to what @keescase recommended, but speed and portability was probably more important to me.
In that use case I’d also like to factor in the noise the HDD makes.
Hah, I can confirm that my 4-drive array in my server does make it sound like I’m hearing the ocean…valid concern that SemLraug brings up, if you’re sensitive.
Hehehe, I;m half deaf so I will have the volume loud. My tinnitus get louder every day. Too many Black Sabbath concerts 
Ok but don’t forget it will heat up must faster then a SSD enclosure with some heatsink present.
If you are playing lots of long movies that can be a problem.
Never been this cheap for storage that I can remember. If they all burn out I will take the loss. This is no different that a trip to the casino..
Video files are decently compressed. I don’t imagine a moderate, albeit continuous read from the drive will be much of an issue in terms of heat. If reading a DVD size file from the drive, it’d be reading at roughly 1/4 the drive’s capable speed, assuming it’s a low-end drive.
Yes but these are very small drives with no cooling, and are not designed for longer usage.
Inside is a low-end WDC WD40EDAZ (don’t put important stuff on this @sempterobit). It only runs at 4,800rpm. It has a max un-buffered read speed of around 300MB/s, but it’s unlikely to even hit half that inside the USB enclosure, and most benchmarks with the enclosure place it around 120MB/s read.
A 2 hour movie compressed to roughly DVD size (4.7GB), is going to require a bitrate of about 5.1MB/s. That’s a sustained read speed of 1.7% the drive’s maximum capable speed.
There is always a reason why this drives are relatively cheap, it is a portable drive meant for backup or (temporary) storage.
I certainly agree there
I wouldn’t be expecting amazing things.
If you have the possibility, I would suggest to pay a bit more to get a better quality HDD. Both for better performance, more reliability and more importantly, peace of mind.
Cheap will be expensive in the longer term. When it comes to harddisks specifically but generally as well.
I have a 5tb external Seagate I have movies on and it works fine for going through the TV. I do believe its a 72000 rpm which is much faster than what you have displayed. I also have a 54000 which I use for my Video’s and it works fine enough. So with that slow speed be prepared to keep your buffers full.
You may want to copy all files via the command line and then just let it go. It will take a while to copy with such slow access speeds. As far as the Software just make sure they don’t try to make a “Virtual CD” for the installation of such (they use a part of the 4tb you just paid for for this) A long time ago when I actually bought a WD the only way to get rid of the “Virtual CD” was through a Windows Program (My wifes computer at the time was my salvation) and of course I was on Linux.
So what I learn from my mistakes was to 1 never purchase a WD again and Two never MARRY again 
Ok admittedly Number two was a different mistake but I LEARNED from it. 
