Erase or not erase wd drive

I just bought a new WD EasyStore 4TB portable drive and want to use it for backing up using Mac Time Machine. Following the step by step instructions I end up with a window claiming “The disk must be erased before it can be used for Time Machine backups because it has an incompatible file system.”

Is it prudent to take this step because I realize erasing will destroy all info on the new drive that cannot be undone. I have already copied all the new drive’s info onto my desktop.