diff --git a/+bids/layout.m b/+bids/layout.m
index f10b3717..66ab55e1 100644
--- a/+bids/layout.m
+++ b/+bids/layout.m
@@ -92,12 +92,13 @@
 
   %% BIDS structure
   % ==========================================================================
-  % BIDS.dir          -- BIDS directory
-  % BIDS.description  -- content of dataset_description.json
-  % BIDS.sessions     -- cellstr of sessions
-  % BIDS.participants -- for participants.tsv
-  % BIDS.subjects     -- structure array of subjects
-  % BIDS.root         -- tsv and json files in the root folder
+  % BIDS.dir           -- BIDS directory
+  % BIDS.is_datalad_ds -- BIDS directory
+  % BIDS.description   -- content of dataset_description.json
+  % BIDS.sessions      -- cellstr of sessions
+  % BIDS.participants  -- for participants.tsv
+  % BIDS.subjects      -- structure array of subjects
+  % BIDS.root          -- tsv and json files in the root folder
 
   BIDS = struct('pth', root, ...
                 'description', struct([]), ...
@@ -130,6 +131,11 @@
     return
   end
 
+  BIDS.is_datalad_ds = false;
+  if isdir(fullfile(BIDS.pth, '.datalad')) && isdir(fullfile(BIDS.pth, '.git'))
+    BIDS.is_datalad_ds = true;
+  end
+
   schema = bids.Schema(use_schema);
   schema.verbose = verbose;
 
@@ -666,9 +672,13 @@
     for iIntended = 1:numel(intended)
       dest = fullfile(BIDS.pth, BIDS.subjects(info_src.sub_idx).name, ...
                       intended{iIntended});
+      % only throw warning for non-datalad dataset
+      % to avoid excessive warning as sym link are not files
       if ~exist(dest, 'file')
-        msg = ['IntendedFor file ' dest ' from ' file.filename ' not found'];
-        bids.internal.error_handling(mfilename, 'IntendedForMissing', msg, tolerant, verbose);
+        if ~BIDS.is_datalad_ds
+          msg = ['IntendedFor file ' dest ' from ' file.filename ' not found'];
+          bids.internal.error_handling(mfilename, 'IntendedForMissing', msg, tolerant, verbose);
+        end
         continue
       end
       info_dest = bids.internal.return_file_info(BIDS, dest);
diff --git a/demos/spm/facerep/code/spm_facerep.m b/demos/spm/facerep/code/spm_facerep.m
index 5821cee6..107e51a5 100644
--- a/demos/spm/facerep/code/spm_facerep.m
+++ b/demos/spm/facerep/code/spm_facerep.m
@@ -28,20 +28,15 @@
                             'demo', 'facerep', ...
                             'force', true, ...
                             'verbose', verbose, ...
-                            'out_path', fullfile(pwd, '..'));
+                            'out_path', fullfile(pwd, '..', 'sourcedata'));
 
 %% Move file into source folder
 source_path = fullfile(pwd, '..', 'sourcedata');
-bids.util.mkdir(source_path);
-
-movefile(fullfile(pwd, '..', 'face_rep', '*'), source_path);
-rmdir(fullfile(pwd, '..', 'face_rep'));
-
+raw_path = fullfile(pwd, '..', 'raw');
 derivatives_pth = fullfile(pth, 'derivatives');
 
 %% CONVERT TO BIDS
-
-pth = convert_facerep_ds();
+pth = convert_facerep_ds(source_path, raw_path);
 
 %% COPY TO DERIVATIVES
 BIDS = bids.layout(pth, ...