A tape drive is fabricated with a chassis and a bridge. The bridge acts to support the read/write head actuator and to also define the datum surfaces for locating a mating magnetic tape cartridge. The bridge is manufactured of materials which are highly rigid and stable dimensionally. The chassis of the tape drive is fabricated from materials such as plastics which are relatively flexible and do not have the rigidity of that characterized by the bridge. The more flexible chassis of the tape drive permits the isolation of distortions and distortionary forces in the chassis and does not transmit those forces and distortions to the bridge. The effect of the two piece arrangement is that the pieces may be made relatively inexpensively and retain reliability of much more expensive materials in manufacturing processes herefore considered necessary. The electronic circuits associated with and part of the tape drive may be protected by fabricating the bridge of an electrically conductive material and grounding it to insure that the chances for electromagnetic and electrostatic discharge are minimized.