diff --git a/src/megatron/energon/epathlib/epath.py b/src/megatron/energon/epathlib/epath.py
index f5c30973..6357262a 100644
--- a/src/megatron/energon/epathlib/epath.py
+++ b/src/megatron/energon/epathlib/epath.py
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ def __init__(
                 elif protocol == "dss":
                     # Profile corresponds to the dataset name and version
                     assert profile is not None
+                    self._split_dss_name_and_version(profile)
                     assert NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR is not None, (
                         "Environment variable NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR is not set"
                     )
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ def __setstate__(self, state: dict) -> None:
             assert NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR is not None, (
                 "Environment variable NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR is not set"
             )
+            self._split_dss_name_and_version(self.internal_path.parts[1])
             self.fs = NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR.fs
         else:
             self.fs, _ = msc.resolve_storage_client(f"msc://{self.profile}")
@@ -148,6 +150,15 @@ def _split_protocol(path: str) -> Tuple[Optional[str], Optional[str], str]:
             inner_path = ""
         return m.group("protocol"), m.group("profile"), inner_path
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _split_dss_name_and_version(dataset: str) -> Tuple[str, str]:
+        assert "@" in dataset, "DSS paths must include a dataset version separated by '@'"
+        dataset_name, dataset_version = dataset.rsplit("@", maxsplit=1)
+        assert dataset_name and dataset_version, (
+            "DSS paths must include non-empty dataset name and version"
+        )
+        return dataset_name, dataset_version
+
     @property
     def _internal_str_path(self) -> str:
         """Return the path as used inside the file system, without the protocol and fs part.
@@ -157,7 +168,16 @@ def _internal_str_path(self) -> str:
                 "Environment variable NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR is not set"
             )
             # The internal path is relative to the NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR (i.e. strip the leading /, then concat with /)
-            return NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR._internal_str_path + str(self.internal_path)
+            dss_dataset_name, dss_dataset_version = self._split_dss_name_and_version(
+                self.internal_path.parts[1]
+            )
+            cache_path = PurePosixPath(
+                "/",
+                dss_dataset_name,
+                dss_dataset_version,
+                *self.internal_path.parts[2:],
+            )
+            return NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR._internal_str_path + str(cache_path)
         else:
             return str(self.internal_path)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_crudedataset.py b/tests/test_crudedataset.py
index fa168e40..5cd38eab 100644
--- a/tests/test_crudedataset.py
+++ b/tests/test_crudedataset.py
@@ -631,6 +631,15 @@ def test_aux_random_access(self):
         assert all([a == b for a, b in zip(samples_after, samples_restored)])
 
     def test_dss_path(self):
+        dss_dataset_name = "crude_text"
+        dss_dataset_version = "v1"
+        dss_dataset_root = self.dataset_path / dss_dataset_name
+        dss_dataset_root.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        (dss_dataset_root / dss_dataset_version).symlink_to(
+            self.dataset_path / "ds1",
+            target_is_directory=True,
+        )
+
         dss_mds_path = self.dataset_path / "metadataset_dss.yaml"
         dss_mds_path.write_text(
             "\n".join(
@@ -639,7 +648,7 @@ def test_dss_path(self):
                     "__class__: MetadatasetV2",
                     "splits:",
                     "  train:",
-                    "    path: dss://ds1",
+                    f"    path: dss://{dss_dataset_name}@{dss_dataset_version}",
                     "    subflavors:",
                     "      crude_type: txtpkl",
                 ]
diff --git a/tests/test_epathlib.py b/tests/test_epathlib.py
index 2764e6f3..2e8ae432 100644
--- a/tests/test_epathlib.py
+++ b/tests/test_epathlib.py
@@ -286,6 +286,13 @@ def test_msc_s3(self):
             # assert not EPath("msc://s3test_msc/test").is_dir()
             assert not EPath("msc://s3test_msc/test/dir").is_dir()
 
+    def test_dss_path_requires_version(self):
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+            AssertionError,
+            "DSS paths must include a dataset version separated by '@'",
+        ):
+            EPath("dss://charts1234")
+
     def test_metadataset_v2_dss_path_parsing_str(self):
         """Parse a MetadatasetV2 config and ensure DSS URLs stringify correctly as EPath."""
 
@@ -319,15 +326,15 @@ def test_metadataset_v2_dss_path_parsing_str(self):
             # Create dummy DSS datasets in the cache dir so that `load_dataset()` can run
             # post-initialization without hitting missing-path errors.
             #
-            # - charts1234_zh@v0: minimal "webdataset" marker (presence of .nv-meta/.info.json)
-            # - charts1234@v0: folder with images (aux media source)
-            webdataset_root = cache_dir / "charts1234_zh@v0"
+            # - charts1234_zh/v0: minimal "webdataset" marker (presence of .nv-meta/.info.json)
+            # - charts1234/v0: folder with images (aux media source)
+            webdataset_root = cache_dir / "charts1234_zh" / "v0"
             (webdataset_root / MAIN_FOLDER_NAME).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
             (webdataset_root / MAIN_FOLDER_NAME / INFO_JSON_FILENAME).write_text(
                 "{}", encoding="utf-8"
             )
 
-            media_root = cache_dir / "charts1234@v0"
+            media_root = cache_dir / "charts1234" / "v0"
             (media_root / "images").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
             (media_root / "images" / "000.jpg").write_bytes(b"\xff\xd8\xff\xd9")
             (media_root / "images" / "001.jpg").write_bytes(b"\xff\xd8\xff\xd9")
@@ -363,6 +370,8 @@ def test_metadataset_v2_dss_path_parsing_str(self):
 
                 assert ds0.url == "dss://charts1234_zh@v0"
                 assert aux0.url == "dss://charts1234@v0"
+                assert ds0.local_path() == cache_dir / "charts1234_zh" / "v0"
+                assert aux0.local_path() == cache_dir / "charts1234" / "v0"
             finally:
                 if orig_env_cache_dir is None:
                     os.environ.pop("NVDATASET_CACHE_DIR", None)