diff --git a/src/download_rod_files/convert_all_rod_to_nxs.sh b/src/download_rod_files/convert_all_rod_to_nxs.sh
index faad0c6..53d9630 100755
--- a/src/download_rod_files/convert_all_rod_to_nxs.sh
+++ b/src/download_rod_files/convert_all_rod_to_nxs.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # Define the folder containing the .rod files
-folder_path="."
+folder_path="." # took about 8min
 
 # Loop over all .rod files in the folder
 for file in "$folder_path"/*.rod; do
diff --git a/src/download_rod_files/download_all_rod_files_script.sh b/src/download_rod_files/download_all_rod_files_script.sh
index 0683b4c..e19c808 100755
--- a/src/download_rod_files/download_all_rod_files_script.sh
+++ b/src/download_rod_files/download_all_rod_files_script.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Define your input file
 input_file="src/download_rod_files/ROD-numbers_subset_test.txt"
 # Change it to this line, to download all .rod files.
-#input_file="src/download_rod_files/ROD-numbers.txt"
+#input_file="src/download_rod_files/ROD-numbers.txt" # took 7 minutes to download all files
 
 # Ask for confirmation before proceeding
 read -p "Are you sure you want to proceed with the download? (y/n): " confirmation
diff --git a/src/pynxtools_raman/reader.py b/src/pynxtools_raman/reader.py
index d71d854..488d5ed 100644
--- a/src/pynxtools_raman/reader.py
+++ b/src/pynxtools_raman/reader.py
@@ -100,9 +100,9 @@ def handle_rod_file(self, filepath) -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
         # This changes all uppercase string elements to lowercase string elements for the given key, within a given key value pair
         key_to_make_value_lower_case = "_raman_measurement.environment"
-        self.raman_data[key_to_make_value_lower_case] = self.raman_data.get(
-            key_to_make_value_lower_case
-        ).lower()
+        environment_name_str = self.raman_data.get(key_to_make_value_lower_case)
+        if environment_name_str is not None:
+            self.raman_data[key_to_make_value_lower_case] = environment_name_str.lower()
 
         # transform the string into a datetime object
         time_key = "_raman_measurement.datetime_initiated"
@@ -121,13 +121,13 @@ def handle_rod_file(self, filepath) -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
         # remove capitalization
         objective_type_key = "_raman_measurement_device.optics_type"
-        self.raman_data[objective_type_key] = self.raman_data.get(
-            objective_type_key
-        ).lower()
-        # set a valid raman NXDL value, but only if it matches one of the correct ones:
-        objective_type_list = ["objective", "lens", "glass fiber", "none"]
-        if self.raman_data.get(objective_type_key) not in objective_type_list:
-            self.raman_data[objective_type_key] = "other"
+        objective_type_str = self.raman_data.get(objective_type_key)
+        if objective_type_str is not None:
+            self.raman_data[objective_type_key] = objective_type_str.lower()
+            # set a valid raman NXDL value, but only if it matches one of the correct ones:
+            objective_type_list = ["objective", "lens", "glass fiber", "none"]
+            if self.raman_data.get(objective_type_key) not in objective_type_list:
+                self.raman_data[objective_type_key] = "other"
 
         return {}