Ratty,
It is not a Dell branded item or Dell touched item - it has the OEM sticker and FCC label with a BUFFALO 14 digit SN on the same label from the factory.
I have never had a problem in the last 15 plus years with Dell serial numbers on either their own product or any of the hundreds of things I have bought thru Dell - personally
I won't even get into professionally.
The only issue I ever had was in doing a couple of transfers - and they were resolved rather quickly via my premier account.
Can we drop the serial number/Dell side of this please.