The weather-related hard disk drive shortage is real, if not particularly severe so far. It is still no problem to purchase a new hard disk drive for a desktop computer, but there is enough of a shortage that retailers have had to restrict quantities to protect their inventory from hoarders.
Some computer hardware makers have blamed poor recent sales on the hard drive shortage, but that is likely just a convenient excuse. Businesses have slowed desktop computer purchases as they anticipate a shift to notebooks and tablets. Unless something happens to change their minds, this trend will turn into a permanent decline in the use of desktop computers.
