I use several "WD - Elements SE Portable Hard Drive" and an older WD Pi-Drive. All have just a USB connection, and are powered by that USB connection. They work fine with a modern Raspberry Pi. I even have one working with an old Pi 1 B+.
My only concern is that they are appear to be designed for occasional use, not for being on all the time. Even so, I use one in my always-on home server, a raspberry pi 3B with a WD USB drive. It's been working for nearly 18 months. My backup server is the Pi 1B+ with a large capacity WD USB drive.
These disks are mostly sold for external backup or portable storage. The disks inside are 2.5" drives and take maximum, roughly, 0.5A of current, which is well below the 1A max for the Pi USB total current. I have not succeeded in using 2 such drives on a Pi - the Pi doesn't boot. The in rush current on start up is too much.
I think you will find the general performance of the Pi will be a better with a USB connected hard drive or SSD. The speed of the SD card interface is not brilliant.
good luck. Jim