Paragon Software has released Drive Backup 11 ($95.95 for Workstation), the latest edition of its business-oriented tool. And the headline improvement this time is new sector-level incremental disk imaging, which, Paragon says, has boosted the efficiency of this backup type by 200%.

Elsewhere, file-based backups can now be encrypted by a password. There’s the option to back up your data to an FTP/ SFTP server. Support for working with virtual disks has now been improved, and new asynchronous data transfer means backup performance has considerably improved.

Add the improved hardware support, which ensures the program is equally at home with SSD, AFD, 2TB+, USB 3.0 and non-512B sector sized disks, and Paragon Drive Backup 11 seems to be a solid and reliable update. There’s not enough here to change anyone’s mind about the program, but if you’re already a Paragon fan you’ll appreciate the enhancements.

Backup Manager's clean and clear interface makes it very easy to use. (And this is "Advanced Mode".)

Drive Backup has some strong competition in the professional backup market, though, not least from Genie Backup Manager Pro 9.0 ($69.95), also just released.

The new build benefits from an even wider range of backup destinations. As well as saving to local, removable and network drives, then program can now also upload your archive to Amazon S3 accounts or Secure FTP servers.

And while other new features aren’t so impressive (“Outlook 2010 support” is something we’d have expected long ago), there’s plenty to like here, including Windows 8 support, reduced memory requirements and all-round improved backup performance. All of which is packaged in an excellent and easy-to-use interface.

Our pick? Maybe Paragon Drive Backup 11 for image-based backups, Genie Backup Manager Pro 9.0 for files, but it’s a tough call. If you’re looking for a professional backup tool then both are worthy of consideration.