That's wrong. Since its inception, on of the main points of the relational mode is physical data independence.
No assumptions on how or where the data is physically stored is made by the model. Besides, it seems more plausible to me that Codd would be working on machines with disks, not tapes, by the time he proposed the model. See this, for example: https://www.theregister.com/2013/11/20/ibm_system_r_making_r...
So my understanding is relational databases were born on disks, not on tapes, but that distinction doesn't really matter to it. Additionally, it is the physical independence of the model that let all implementations based on it adapt when SSDs (and newer) storage systems arrived.
Finally, saying "the paradigms have outlived the hardware" doesn't make sense in this context. To repeat: the relational model was proposed precisely to isolate logical database design from hardware details. As a paradigm, it has been independent of hardware from conception, so of course it would outlive any specific hardware incarnation.
No assumptions on how or where the data is physically stored is made by the model. Besides, it seems more plausible to me that Codd would be working on machines with disks, not tapes, by the time he proposed the model. See this, for example: https://www.theregister.com/2013/11/20/ibm_system_r_making_r...
So my understanding is relational databases were born on disks, not on tapes, but that distinction doesn't really matter to it. Additionally, it is the physical independence of the model that let all implementations based on it adapt when SSDs (and newer) storage systems arrived.
Finally, saying "the paradigms have outlived the hardware" doesn't make sense in this context. To repeat: the relational model was proposed precisely to isolate logical database design from hardware details. As a paradigm, it has been independent of hardware from conception, so of course it would outlive any specific hardware incarnation.