If you google this technical white paper from HP (a major LTO vendor) you'll see that the format (in all iterations) is designed to be pretty durable:
4AA4_3781EEE.pdf
In particular, they test dropping tapes hundreds of times from 30" AFF onto concrete in different orientations, making sure they'll still work properly. Not every vendor does this, but they all like to be perceived as archival quality and durable.
I wouldn't be too worried.
Google: "tape library robot"
Re:Petabyte tape cartridges are coming
by RandallBrown on Friday February 05, 2021 @12:29PM
(#26038782)
Are tapes particularly fragile? At least any more fragile than most other media?
I remember being pretty rough with audio and video cassettes, but then again those aren't digital so some damage probably wasn't noticeable.
Or forgetting to remove from pocket during an MRI scan
Re:Petabyte tape cartridges are coming
by KaiserPro on Friday February 05, 2021 @04:09PM
(#26041231)
these tapes are going to be fairly cheap (<$400) by 2035.
But more importantly, if its an LTO-style tape, it'll be fairly solid.
even without the case, you can drop them and not worry too much. Lord knows I've dropped loads in my time.
These are not meant to be handled by human hands.
Imagine investing in a 1PB tape, and then accidentally dropping it on the floor. Even just setting it down on a table too hard might brick it, or mean it needs to go back to the manufacturer for a expen$$$$$ive repair.
Gravity seems like an unreasonably large risk for such a valuable object. Maybe the ideal environment for these is a zero-gravity one? Perhaps the future of "big data" is somewhere out in space?