diff --git a/dacapo/experiments/starts/start.py b/dacapo/experiments/starts/start.py
index 6f4dd50ae..0e9e8f7e4 100644
--- a/dacapo/experiments/starts/start.py
+++ b/dacapo/experiments/starts/start.py
@@ -185,8 +185,13 @@ def __init__(self, start_config):
             Start class with specified config to run the initialization of
             weights for a model associated with a specific criterion.
         """
-        self.run = start_config.run
-        self.criterion = start_config.criterion
+        # Old version return a dict, new version return an object, this line is to support both
+        if isinstance(start_config, dict):
+            self.run = start_config["run"]
+            self.criterion = start_config["criterion"]
+        else:
+            self.run = start_config.run
+            self.criterion = start_config.criterion
 
         self.channels = None
 
diff --git a/dacapo/store/converter.py b/dacapo/store/converter.py
index bffa526db..62bb2f4df 100644
--- a/dacapo/store/converter.py
+++ b/dacapo/store/converter.py
@@ -117,10 +117,15 @@ def __typed_structure(self, obj_data, cls, cls_fn):
             to determine the class. This is useful for reconstructing a concrete
             class from unstructured data.
         """
-
-        cls = cls_fn(obj_data["__type__"])
-        structure_fn = make_dict_structure_fn(cls, self)
-        return structure_fn(obj_data, cls)
+        try:
+            cls = cls_fn(obj_data["__type__"])
+            structure_fn = make_dict_structure_fn(cls, self)
+            return structure_fn(obj_data, cls)
+        except:
+            print(
+                f"Could not structure object of type {obj_data}. will try unstructured data. attr __type__ can be missing because of old version of the data."
+            )
+            return obj_data
 
 
 # The global converter object, to be used by stores to convert objects into