I think the big reason they didn't do that, is that the hardware like that just doesn't exist. It'd probably be possible to engineer something that could do it

I think the big reason they didn't do that, is that the hardware like that just doesn't exist. It'd probably be possible to engineer something that could do it, but the question is what's the cost of doing that vs attempting to throw a head or two at it to recover the data? They looks like they're much more physically substantial/robust compared to modern heads so it might not be as big a deal. If you end up further damaging the media though it might be a bad thing. But the question is, if it's that delicate of media (flaking off, just scratched to hell, etc.) were you ever going to be able to recover it at all anyway?