I have found version 1.02 on Buffalo's japan site (http://buffalo.jp/download/driver/hd/br-816_fw.html) it will run the actual flashing exe file in english, shouldn't it be on buffalo's us and north america sites, it is recent (late march 2009) but why is it that new stuff come to the usa last?
just a thought...I have email buffalo usa with this info, I don't know what it would take to make available a single file for download on a website, also the only available download for the br-816su2 is for the internal drive fbs mat**bleep**a, I wonder if the two are compatable, most of the stuff is for cyberlink's software anyway...
The US/Canada BR-816SU2 FW 1.02 update is available here:
http://www.buffalotech.com/support/validate/?MTI4fFNXLTU1ODQuemlw this is version 1.02
Good stuff -- complete with instructions in Japanese!
(not a big deal -- install appears pretty self-explanatory)