Have 17 in MB Pro 8GB, I7 processor. My 500 GB HDD is running out of space, want to replace it with a SSD 1 TB, Can I do it, and what drive should I use?

Computer is prob. 5 yrs old, still runs great, works well with Yosemite, just HDD if full, tried cleaning it up, but only get about 8 GB left. Want to change out for a SSD 1 TB or 960 , leaning toward Crucial drive, can I do this and replace my old drive. Do not really want to give up my DVD slot to a HDD, would rather just replace the current Hard drive with a SSD? Any thoughts, can I do this myself. I have computer connected to time capsule and could use that to reinstall onto new SSD??