Reinstalling lion from app store, can I still have Snow Leopard on a partition?

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.
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 Snow Leopard Install DVD v10.6.2.  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 Snow Leopard 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.
I have now decided to download Iion again from the Apps Store, got the option key to work and as of now it is slowly downloading.  I plan to make a bootable DVD of Lion before installing it again.  I also can create a partition called "Lion," since I deleted my partition called "Snow Leopard," or first created a partition called "Snow Leopard" since I deleted it again from the HD.  Since I still have the original Lion install on my iMac, if I create a new partition can I then get the "Snow Leopard," disk to install on that partition?  I tried Carbon Copy, and it loaded in from my external HD to a previous partition but when I opened it up many documents had a "RED X," saying something about permissions.  So that is when I deleted the first partition.
Now, I want to start over, and have two bootable versions, Lion and Snow Leopard.  Can someone tell me the right way to do this?
Thanks,
DaisyMay
DaisyMay

Answer 1

Thanks Pondini,
I read #14 and your helpful hints.  I am afraid to erase and reformat the drive because I am not as knowledgeable as others maybe.  I have a website, and I don't want too loose all of my work and photos if I make a mistake.
I installed the Snow Leopard disk that came with my iMac i5 (2010), I first created a partition labeled "Snow Leopard." Started up the computer and saw the install icon.  I selected the partition and followed the instructions, when that was done, I selected in Utilities, to back up from time machine on my external Seagate HD.  When it was done, I noticed on the desk top two Macintosh HD, but changed back the name of my Snow Leopard 10.6.8.  When I start up from the Snow Leopard HD, I see in the dock my older apps with the icon circle showing that I can't use them, like when I start up from Lion.
On the backup version on my external HD, I selected a date in March for the time machine backup.  When I open up my external drive and select the apps it says, "Can't open up apps because it is in a time machine backup.  Before installing Lion last week I backed up Snow Leopard in time machine and turn it off before installing Lion.
How can I get my old apps to work, it seems that time machine won't allow me to open up my older apps.  The only reason that I am going to all of this trouble is that some older apps like File Maker Pro, Nvu, Motion Pictures HD, Switch, and a few others have some data that I want to see before I decided to trash the folders and just use Lion.
Any suggestions?
DaisyMay