[en] In most large computer installations, files are moved between on-line disk and mass storage (tape, integrated mass storage device) either automatically by the system or specifically at the direction of the user. This is the first of two papers which study the selection of algorithms for the automatic migration of files between mass storage and disk. The use of the text editor data sets at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) computer installation is examined through the analysis of thirteen months of file reference data. Most files are used very few times. Of those that are used sufficiently frequently that their reference patterns may be examined, about a third show declining rates of reference during their lifetime; of the remainder, very few (about 5%) show correlated interreference intervals, and interreference intervals (in days) appear to be more skewed than would occur with the Bernoulli process. Thus, about two-thirds of all sufficiently active files appear to be referenced as a renewal process with a skewed interreference distribution. A large number of other file reference statistics (file lifetimes, interference distributions, moments, means, number of uses/file, file sizes, file rates of reference, etc.) are computed and presented. The results are applied in the following paper to the development and comparative evaluation of file migration algorithms. 17 figures, 13 tables