diff --git a/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/port_droid.py b/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/port_droid.py
index f5c903fb2..3bcb0ba36 100644
--- a/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/port_droid.py
+++ b/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/port_droid.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 import numpy as np
 import tensorflow_datasets as tfds
 
-from lerobot.common.datasets.lerobot_dataset import LeRobotDataset
+from lerobot.common.datasets.lerobot_dataset import LeRobotDataset, LeRobotDatasetMetadata
 from lerobot.common.utils.utils import get_elapsed_time_in_days_hours_minutes_seconds
 
 DROID_SHARDS = 2048
@@ -370,6 +370,25 @@ def port_droid(
         )
 
 
+def validate_dataset(repo_id):
+    """Sanity check that ensure meta data can be loaded and all files are present."""
+    meta = LeRobotDatasetMetadata(repo_id)
+
+    if meta.total_episodes == 0:
+        raise ValueError("Number of episodes is 0.")
+
+    for ep_idx in range(meta.total_episodes):
+        data_path = meta.root / meta.get_data_file_path(ep_idx)
+
+        if not data_path.exists():
+            raise ValueError(f"Parquet file is missing in: {data_path}")
+
+        for vid_key in meta.video_keys:
+            vid_path = meta.root / meta.get_video_file_path(ep_idx, vid_key)
+            if not vid_path.exists():
+                raise ValueError(f"Video file is missing in: {vid_path}")
+
+
 def main():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
 
diff --git a/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/slurm_port_shards.py b/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/slurm_port_shards.py
index 08e36bc39..7a1e8dd2b 100644
--- a/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/slurm_port_shards.py
+++ b/examples/port_datasets/droid_rlds/slurm_port_shards.py
@@ -9,25 +9,6 @@ from examples.port_datasets.droid_rlds.port_droid import DROID_SHARDS
 from lerobot.common.datasets.lerobot_dataset import LeRobotDatasetMetadata
 
 
-def validate_shard(repo_id):
-    """Sanity check that ensure meta data can be loaded and all files are present."""
-    meta = LeRobotDatasetMetadata(repo_id)
-
-    if meta.total_episodes == 0:
-        raise ValueError("Number of episodes is 0.")
-
-    for ep_idx in range(meta.total_episodes):
-        data_path = meta.root / meta.get_data_file_path(ep_idx)
-
-        if not data_path.exists():
-            raise ValueError(f"Parquet file is missing in: {data_path}")
-
-        for vid_key in meta.video_keys:
-            vid_path = meta.root / meta.get_video_file_path(ep_idx, vid_key)
-            if not vid_path.exists():
-                raise ValueError(f"Video file is missing in: {vid_path}")
-
-
 class PortDroidShards(PipelineStep):
     def __init__(
         self,
@@ -41,7 +22,7 @@ class PortDroidShards(PipelineStep):
     def run(self, data=None, rank: int = 0, world_size: int = 1):
         from datasets.utils.tqdm import disable_progress_bars
 
-        from examples.port_datasets.droid_rlds.port_droid import port_droid
+        from examples.port_datasets.droid_rlds.port_droid import port_droid, validate_dataset
         from lerobot.common.utils.utils import init_logging
 
         init_logging()
@@ -57,7 +38,7 @@ class PortDroidShards(PipelineStep):
             shard_index=rank,
         )
 
-        validate_shard(shard_repo_id)
+        validate_dataset(shard_repo_id)
 
 
 def make_port_executor(
diff --git a/lerobot/common/datasets/utils.py b/lerobot/common/datasets/utils.py
index 6edf46523..58dd94007 100644
--- a/lerobot/common/datasets/utils.py
+++ b/lerobot/common/datasets/utils.py
@@ -126,9 +126,8 @@ def load_nested_dataset(pq_dir: Path) -> Dataset:
         raise FileNotFoundError(f"Provided directory does not contain any parquet file: {pq_dir}")
 
     # TODO(rcadene): set num_proc to accelerate conversion to pyarrow
-    return concatenate_datasets(
-        [Dataset.from_parquet(str(path)) for path in sorted(pq_dir.glob("*/*.parquet"))]
-    )
+    datasets = [Dataset.from_parquet(str(path)) for path in paths]
+    return concatenate_datasets(datasets)
 
 
 def get_parquet_num_frames(parquet_path):