diff --git a/cal_tools/cal_tools/tools.py b/cal_tools/cal_tools/tools.py
index 77b1ebcc21c7a117005d9d998c4fc3a05d4672be..5f1170d52d52f63d55ed8a535f24e52d435c1e55 100644
--- a/cal_tools/cal_tools/tools.py
+++ b/cal_tools/cal_tools/tools.py
@@ -231,19 +231,18 @@ def get_run_info(proposal, run):
 
 
 def get_dir_creation_date(directory: str, run: int,
-                          use_dir: Optional[bool] = False,
                           verbosity: Optional[int] = 0) -> datetime.datetime:
     """
     Return run start time from MyDC.
     If not available from MyMDC, retrieve the data from the dataset's metadata
-    in [directory]/[run], or from the folder on disk if `use_dir` is set.
+    in [directory]/[run] or, if the dataset is older than 2020, from the
+    directory's creation time.
 
-    If the files are not available, this function will raise a ValueError.
+    If the data is not available from either source, this function will raise a
+    ValueError.
 
     :param directory: path to directory which contains runs
     :param run: run number
-    :param use_dir: get the creation time from the directory, needed for older
-                    datasets.
     :param verbosity: Level of verbosity (0 - silent)
     :return: (datetime) modification time
 
@@ -265,8 +264,6 @@ def get_dir_creation_date(directory: str, run: int,
     ntries = 100
     while ntries > 0:
         try:
-            if use_dir:
-                return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(directory.stat().st_ctime)  # noqa
             dates = []
             for f in directory.glob('*.h5'):
                 with h5py.File(f, 'r') as fin:
@@ -274,13 +271,10 @@ def get_dir_creation_date(directory: str, run: int,
                     cdate = datetime.datetime.strptime(cdate, "%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ")
                     dates.append(cdate)
             return min(dates)
-
         except (IOError, ValueError):
             ntries -= 1
-        except KeyError:
-            msg = ("It seems that you're working on old data. Try setting "
-                   "`use_dir=True` to get file creation date")
-            raise ValueError(msg) from None
+        except KeyError:  # The files are here, but it's an older dataset
+            return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(directory.stat().st_ctime)
 
     msg = 'Could not get the creation time from the directory'
     raise ValueError(msg, directory)
diff --git a/tests/test_cal_tools.py b/tests/test_cal_tools.py
index 5aef404bedcabaa26771a8baf06883cbc7f6ccd0..865eb90c46705d8cd858eb5530a999cbda2b24e7 100644
--- a/tests/test_cal_tools.py
+++ b/tests/test_cal_tools.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from cal_tools.tools import get_dir_creation_date
 
 
 def test_dir_creation_date():
-    folder = "/gpfs/exfel/exp/DETLAB/202031/p900172/raw"
+    folder = '/gpfs/exfel/exp/DETLAB/202031/p900172/raw'
 
     date = get_dir_creation_date(folder, 10)
     assert isinstance(date, datetime)
@@ -17,12 +17,8 @@ def test_dir_creation_date():
     assert e.value.args[1] == Path(folder) / 'r0004'
 
     # The following data predates the addition of creation_time in metadata
-    folder = "/gpfs/exfel/exp/SQS/201930/p900075/raw/"
+    folder = '/gpfs/exfel/exp/SQS/201930/p900075/raw/'
 
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError) as e:
-        get_dir_creation_date(folder, 365)
-    assert "It seems that you're working on old data." in e.value.args[0]
-
-    date = get_dir_creation_date(folder, 365, use_dir=True)
+    date = get_dir_creation_date(folder, 365)
     assert isinstance(date, datetime)
     assert str(date) == '2019-07-04 11:02:41.280000'