gel question - (Jul/08/2011 )

I ran a 2% gel, sliced out my bands of interest and stored them in a test tube in the same buffer used to run the gel (TBE buffer), and stored the tube at 4*C. How long will the gel slices with the DNA last at 4*C? Is there a better way to store them?

Indefinitely. The DNA will (depending on its size) likely diffuse out of the slices and into solution, but still should be recoverable.

as you have asked about the better storing way :-
i think, it is to go and complete the steps of gel purification &
then store the purified gel product at -20C.

-- not to add any notes after Phage's ...

Phage is right. Next time you better cut out your band and store the slice dry(!) in the freezer...then you can keep it as long as you want. This one you better proceed with.
Good luck