Unknown Partition; What's in it and how do I view it?

while this is possible, unknown under windows usually is a linux partition. however, on a flash drive when i format a drive w/ the new windows 7 efat, older versions of windows dont' recognize that eitrher. however, in youre case, while it could be a rogue element, it is more liekley that it is a partition whcih is supposed t be hidden by the manufacturer for recovery operations, etc.