True, on hard drives, the controller board will eventually fail. The solders might decompose or the circuitry might fail. Then you’re left with a platter full o

True, on hard drives, the controller board will eventually fail. The solders might decompose or the circuitry might fail. Then you’re left with a platter full of randomized bits. But on tape, the controller mechanism is separated from the storage medium. The controller mechanism is inside the drive readers itself, which will eventually fail. So for both, it’s a trade off. They’re both going to eventually fail.