External start-up disk not loading stuck at grey apple screen?

Hello,
I used to have a 2010 13" MacBook Pro, I sold it back in December so I took out the hard drive and placed it in an external case. I've been using the case since then and I usually started up from my external HD on other MBPs that relatives lent me now and then. Yesterday I got a new 2011 15" MBP and I decided it would be a better idea to just copy my documents (incl. fonts and VSTs) and music and do a whole reinstallation of all my applications. Unfortunately there's certain stuff I can't just copy from my old HD so I decided I'd start up from it and write some stuff down for later. After plugging the hard drive and starting up the computer with the external as a start up disk, the grey screen with the apple logo shows up, although no spinning wheel shows up. The computer then stays like that forever until I decide to shut it down by holding the power button.
I opened up Disk Utility and although I can't do anything about permissions (both buttons are grayed out), I verified the disk and everything turned out fine. Can you please help me why I can't boot up from it?
Thank you very much for your time.

Two thoughts.
1. The OS on the old HD is specific to the old MBP and won't boot the new one.
2. Macs will not boot from an OS version that is older than the one current at the date of manufacture.

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