Can't install snow leopard on partition after upgrading to lion

Question

I rushed out too early to install Lion via Apple Apps store.  Now, I realize that Rosetta is gone and so are my options to use older apps.  As I was reading on the web and Apple Support, I have tried various things and get a window saying that I can't install snow leopard.
I have never partition my hard drive, but using disk utility I created a partition called "Snow Leopard."  It divided my HD in half which is okay.  I closed the disk utility window, rebooted holding down the "C" key, and saw the OS X Install DVD.  When I select it a window pops up saying, "You can't use this version of the appl inst Mac OS X with this version of Mac OS X.  You have installed Mac OS X 23.1.1."
Before downloading lion, I made a backup of my existing HD using Time Machine to an external HD.  When I open up a saved version dated a month ago, I see that the applications that were working in snow leopard now have the icon circle saying that it is not supported by lion.  This is strange since I used Time Machine to back up my HD, then turned off the app before downloading lion.  Even older versions saved on the external HD show the circle.
I read about lion and the "Recovery HD," but when I hold down the Command-R key nothing happens when I restart my computer.  It also talks about using the option key but that does not work.  It talks about reinstalling lion using this system, but I don't see it working.
How can I install snow leopard on my new partition, then I would go to "Software Updates," to get the latest version, or use one of the versions on my external HD to have both operating system.
Thanks,
DaisyMay

Answer 1

Hi Scottiemn,
As I was trying different things to make a partition on my HD, I made notes as to what I did, and I finally got it to work.  I will try to explain what I did.
Before installing “Lion,” I backed up Snow Leopard using Time Machine to my external Seagate HD.  I installed “Lion,” and found out that I could not use some of my old apps, so I did the following.
Since I am running “Lion,” I opened up disk utility and selected my MacHD (1TB), then I selected partition, and it showed “Macintosh HD” under the partition information name.  I believe I selected the plus, + and it divided my HD space in half, and I named it Snow Leopard.
I then installed the Snow Leopard DVD, and restarted my computer holding down the “C” key, I held it down for about 30 seconds or more and then took my finger off of the key.  As I waited I finally saw that I was on the install DVD, and on the top menu bar I saw “Utilities.”  I had my external Seagate HD mounted on my desk top before I restarted my computer, I selected the “Utilities,” on the menu bar and it gave me the option to back up from Time Machine, I selected my external Seagate HD to the newly created partition I named Snow Leopard and I said “Yes.”  I followed the instructions and after it was done, I went to the menu bar and selected System Preferences, System, Startup Disk, and selected to start up with Snow Leopard.  On my desktop, I can see two Hard Drives, one is Macintosh HD with “Lion,” and the other is Snow Leopard. 
Then, I started up my computer and I was on the Snow Leopard partition and I saw all of my apps working.  I then went back to the menu bar and selected System Preferences, System, Startup Disk, and selected to start up with “Lion,” and restarted my computer and I was running “Lion.”
I am not sure why I was not able to use the DVD of SL before, but somehow I got it to work, and I hope that I have explained what I did above.
One thing, when I installed “Lion,” from the app store, I did not make a bootable DVD of the application.  I went back to the app store and downloaded “Lion” again and kept it in the dock until I got Snow Leopard to work.  I burned a DVD of “Lion,” and so I have a backup of it.
Since my Seagate HD has only 250 GB of space and it is an EIDE HD 7,200 rpm using an OWC Mercury Elite FW400/USB2 with the Oxford chipset 911 enclosure which I bought in 2008, I decided that since I now have my 27 inch iMac quad core i5 with 1TB that I needed a larger hard drive.
I researched the web and decided to go back to OWC and just bought a 2.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro “Quad Interface” 64MB with eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2.0 with 7,200 rpm speed for $219.00.  I partitioned it for Time Machine, and Carbon Copy Cloner.
I ran Time Machine, and both partitions “Lion, and Snow Leopard” are on the Time Machine partition and both HD’s are under the Carbon Copy Cloner.
I am self taught on my many iMac’s over the years, and I go to the forums to ask questions and follow the helpful hints to resolve my problems.  I carefully try different things and write down what I did so I don’t repeat things.
I hope that I have explained what I did, and hopefully it will work for you.
When I want to run SL, I select in the System Preferences to start up from that disk, when I want to run Lion, I go back and select that and start up my computer running Lion.
Since I have many old apps that Rosetta uses to open them up in SL I wanted to keep that operating system.  I will go back now that I have everything working and see if I really need them.  I won’t rush to remove my SL partition that I created, but in time if I don’t need the older apps then I may clean out my system and just run Lion.
I run Lion now all of the time, but when I need to go back to SL, I now have the option.
Good Luck,
DaisyMay