Get another connector/socket pair and solder them together using small pieces of wire and only solder those where you want contact, so you have an adaptor that goes between the socket on the PCB and the connector on the ribbon cable. You can also solder a dipswitch on the data connections, like others have suggested, so you can turn the signals on/off. When you are done, you can take out the "adapter" and your setup is back to normal.